NEGATIVE THINKING IS BAD, RIGHT? NO, COMPLETELY WRONG!
We’re often told negative thinking is a bad thing and we should be ‘positive’ all the time. But Is it so bad after all? That’s the question I’ve been pondering.
What if negative thinking was a positive thing after all?
How can negative thinking be positive? I hear you say?
Well, try this out for yourself, if you keep thinking positive thoughts about something you desperately need to change in your life you will never feel the need to do anything about it, right? Why would you change anything that you were ok with? The answer is you wouldn’t!
So you stay stuck with whatever it is that’s a challenge to you, we use ‘softener’ language and try to stay ‘positive’ because that’s what all the ‘gurus’ say right?
We use language like these examples below…
“I’m not that overweight”
“I don’t drink that much”
“I don’t hate my job that much “
I’m sure you have your own, right? The story you’ve been telling yourself why you don’t need to do anything about getting a new job or starting that new business or getting a coach who can help you.
So go right ahead insert your bullshit excuse…
“The reason I don’t need to do anything about [insert problem here] [insert bullshit excuse here] “.
I did this for years. When it came to giving up alcohol, it wasn’t until my head was filled with negative thoughts about how much I was consuming and the detrimental effects it was having on every area of my life, that I finally found the motivation to quit and stay sober.
For years, I told one of my friends he needed to take better care of himself. His weight ballooning from 100 kilos all the way up to 185!
But John kept telling himself it was alright, he would sort it out one day, in the meantime, his weight steadily kept rising. Then one day he started having negative thoughts about his weight and he contacted me. He started telling me about all the problems his excess weight was causing him. But I knew we had to strike that very moment and take action whilst he was in that negative state. I’m no expert on diet but at the stage, John was at, I didn’t need to be. He simply had to reduce the amount he was eating, “just shut the pie hole” as I remember saying to him!
Once he was signed up to taking action, my job was easy. We simply had to reduce his food intake and replace foods of low or even no nutritional value with those that would not only help to reduce weight but also provide the energy he needs to live the busy life of running a multi-million-dollar business. But it took that initial negative thought for him to take positive action!
John has lost 35 kilos so far and is on target to lose the remaining 50 kilos over the next 12 months. But without those negative thoughts, he would never have taken any action.
My advice is to be careful what you try to avoid in life. Our thoughts proceed the actions we take and by trying to remove those negative thoughts by being “positive”, we’re removing a vital tool in our core being that can help us overcome the problems we have in our lives. Therefore making things worse than they really are. See the glass as not simply half empty but completely broken when it comes to issues that no longer serve you, and are getting in the way of you living the life you want to live.
