Right Thinking - What is it and how you can change your world

Right thinking is a concept I talked about on The Jenny Gallagher Show this past week and I want to share it with you as well.

Every thought produces one of three possible feelings: positive, negative and neutral. Let's say you just found out you got a promotion at work. Most likely you will have a positive feeling in response to the news. Now lets imagine someone else got the promotion. If the news has no impact on you it is likely you will have a neutral response; in other words that thought doesn't generate a feeling. But lets say you wanted the promotion. Now it is possible that you will have a negative feeling and just like good feelings it can range from mild to intense.

If you believe you have no control over your thoughts and that its the situations in your life that make you feel the way you do then please read on. You do have the ability; the power to change your thoughts. The way you think is like anything else you do. It is simply a habit. That is why people respond to situations differently; they actually perceive the situation differently. While your initial feeling to a thought may be negative it is possible to shift and that is what right thinking is all about. It's not about being fake and not honoring the way you "really feel".

Its about taking control; you acknowledge the initial feeling and move towards something better. You are the only person that can make yourself feel good about yourself and your life. If you want to keep blaming other people and situations for how you feel you can but maybe instead try to practice right thinking for the next 21days. Here's how:

First when you have a negative thought take a moment to understand what is creating that feeling. What are you feeling? Hurt, embarrassed, rejected, sad, grief, ashamed, powerless, confused, cheated, intimidated, cynical? I found a great list of negative feelings at http://eqi.org/cnfs.htm if you want to check it out.

Second determine the root cause of the feeling. Many times if you are honest with yourself it is your ego getting in the way. The ego can be the selfish inner child and needs to be handled as such. Don't tolerate bad behavior. If it is the ego take a moment to shake it off and move on to the next step. If the root cause is something else like real sadness or grief it may simply take you time to heal. In this case care for yourself like you would a sick child. Nurture and be tender. Thankfully time does heal.

Third and this is the biggie. Make a conscious choice to shift your thoughts to something more positive. You can do one of two things.

1 - Shift to a totally different thought to just give yourself a break from the pain you are feeling. I do this all the time. I tend to be a worrier and if I stop and pause and realize these thoughts are not productive then I will focus on something else for a while. I will think of something that is beautiful or wonderful.

Worrying (and complaining) can lead you to in a positive direction but if it doesn't then understand it is a bad habit and you then need to replace the bad habit with a good one. You know you have a bad habit with a thought/feeling when it stays with you for weeks, months and years. Maybe its time for a change.

2 - Stay with the thought but think about it from another angle. If you are self consumed (ego) try thinking about it from the other persons point of view. With the promotion example can you feel happy for them? Or if you really can't manage that can you think about how you can move forward in a more productive manner? Maybe there are things you can admit to like you weren't really ready for the promotion anyway or it would have taken up too much of your time. Maybe you will realize you need more education or training or that you have a totally different interest. Use these opportunities to grow. Always try to feel good about yourself; this is a way of honoring yourself and living to a higher standard will make you feel better.

Again, for the next 21 days try to practice right thinking. Whenever a negative feeling comes up stop and examine it and then make a conscious choice on how you want to proceed. This isn't hard. I believe it is hard to feel bad and love to examine the challenges in my life from different perspectives. It allows me to see opportunity and to move forward. Be a creator and create the life you deserve.

All the best and Live Well.