Sunday 27 December 2015

The Power of Positive Thinking

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How I discovered the power of positive thinking

- SRB

I have been practicing positive thinking and trying to use the power of my sub-conscious mind since a long time, with good results. How I discovered and developed this may be interesting and revealing.

One night, about 55 years back, when I went to bed I suddenly felt that I will die if I close my eyes. I could not sleep at all during that night. Worse followed. Firstly, I developed insomnia. Secondly, I became a hypochondriac. Whenever I heard of a known person suffering from a serious health problem, I started fearing that I also had that problem and started having those symptoms. For instance, I used to feel pain running down my left arm and thought I had a heart problem.

Because my boss had contacts with top doctors in New Delhi, I had the benefit of consultations with the best doctors. All of them told me that there was nothing wrong with me. Only thing was that I was very tense. I frequently discussed these with a close friend, a doctor. He often told me that all my pains were the result of my imagination, though they appear real to me. When this went on for some time, I decided to test whether my imagination can produce pain. I started imagining daily that I had running pain throughout my right arm. After some days, I was surprised to get this pain every day. Thus, I discovered the strong negative power of my mind, all because I boldly experimented on myself. I also realized for the first time that I was not at all aware that my negative thoughts have been creating problems for me.

After learning about the harm done by negative power of my mind, I decided to try to use the positive power of my mind. I found that this was not as easy as using negative power of my mind. Since my mind was full of negative ideas, it was easy to exercise the negative power of my mind and produce pain. But, for using the positive power of the mind effectively, my negative thoughts were a powerful hindrance. Moreover, there was no one (or any book accessible to me) to guide me, more than 50 years back. Still I persisted patiently and succeeded slowly and steadily in using the positive power of my mind, without feeling disheartened by the slow progress.

I have been getting many good results from positive thinking / using the power of my subconscious mind. Besides overcoming many small problems which I had faced from time to time, I did have some surprising results worth mentioning.

An important general achievement is that I have developed a high level of self-confidence and remain calm even when faced with difficult or worrying problems. I have also overcome to a large extent my feeling of insecurity and my fear phobia. (Fear is the most powerful negative force and hence our enemy No.1. It is deep rooted because fear has been repeatedly inducted and inculcated into our mind from childhood.) All the above general achievements are remarkable and of immense value.

Some of the amazing specific achievements are stated below:
  1. About 55 years back, I had become a hypochondriac. (An example of the harm done by negative power of my mind). I was able to slowly overcome this by positive thinking, with lot of patience and perseverance to overcome strong opposing negative influences.
  2. At that time. I had developed insomnia also. (Another example of harm done by negative power of my mind). I had to take sleeping pills daily. But, quite soon, with positive thinking, I completely overcame it to the extent that even after I wake up in the middle of my sleep I can continue to have sound sleep. The following analytical line of thinking also helped me to get rid of insomnia without any medication:

    3. If the body is really not getting enough sleep for days together, serious consequences have to follow. If this does not happen, it means that the affected personsmistakenly worry about lack of sleep. This starts a vicious cycle. Actually, in between tossing in bed, the body takes care to have the rest it needs. This is evident from the fact that the body remains reasonably active during the day, even after so called repeated sleepless nights. The “suffering” person, who is only thinking negatively, does not actually realize that his/her body had the required rest. The negative feeling of depression / worry continues due to imagining that the body did not get the rest that it needed.
  3. Because of an allergy, I used to get spells of repeated sneezing followed by fluid dripping from my nose which continued for 2 or 3 days during each spell. I used to take Avil which gave temporary relief only. Since allopathy had no cure for this, I then tried homoeopathy which almost cured the problem but it used to come up after long intervals. Then, I completely overcame this incurable problem also by positive thinking.
  4. About 15 years back, I was diagnosed as suffering from glaucoma. I was told that there was no cure and I have to put eye drops daily throughout my life. I told the doctor that I will be away in USA for about 3 months and will see him again after coming back, for starting treatment. During these 3 months I practiced positive thinking / using the power of my sub-conscious mind. When I went to the doctor again he repeated the tests and told me that I do not have glaucoma. He told that all the earlier tests (repeatedly given under observation as an inpatient) had given wrong results! Till this day, I do not have any symptoms of this or any other serious eye problem. Thus my incurable glaucoma was cured, without any medicine.
  5. In 2002, I had a severe urinary infection which put lot of strain on me. Following this, I developed BP and diabetes. (Another example of the harm done by negative power of my mind). Doctor told me that I have to take medicines throughout my life, for both the problems. After a couple of months of practicing positive thinking / using the power of my sub-conscious mind, I told him repeatedly that I want to stop the medicines. Reluctantly, he agreed that I can try tapering off the medicines. After 3 months of tapering off, I stopped the medicines completely. The doctor (whom I had been consulting once a month) was surprised and declared that I do not have BP and diabetes was only marginalbut asked me to have the tests done every 3 months. I am not taking any medicines now despite consuming plenty of fruits every day.
  6. After I crossed age 80 few years back, my hearing capacity started deteriorating. I decided to solve this problem also with positive                 thinking / using power of my sub-conscious mind, knowing that solving it will take a long time and success can even be considered as a miracle. Out of loving concern, my wife and son repeatedly impressed on me that I need hearing aid. This was a strong negative influence. Therefore, I had the additional problem of overcoming this negative influence also. Yet, I persisted and have achieved partial success so far. I had used a simple test to verify improvement. When I hold the phone to my ear, I was not able to hear the dial tone even faintly through my left ear. After a fairly long period of persistent efforts I observed that I was able to hear the dial tone through my left ear, faintly to start with and then improving gradually over months. With this encouraging result I persisted though I could not hear conversations well. This problem also has improved gradually and now I can progressively understand conversation to larger extents. I am happy that a partial miracle has slowlyhappened over the years. In stead of deteriorating further due to aging, there was definite improvement – a commendable achievement! I feel confident that I can hope for its amazing completion if I continue to persist.
  7. In 2007, I developed hernia and I was told that the only cure was an operation when the bulge becomes larger. Because of the power of my positive thinking it has not become larger. When I cough I used to get a throbbing sensation due to the intestines pushing to come out at the bulge. This has stopped some time back. I was asked not to lift any weight. Nowadays, I have been lifting moderate weights without any adverse problems.
  8. I had used my positive thinking to get some financial benefits also. I had started thinking repeatedly that money is flowing into my life and I am using it judiciously. Whereas I had to often curtail my needs to avoid borrowing, now I have much more money than I need. Moreover, this surplus is also steadily increasing every year. An achievement by positive thinking, in another field.
  9. Though all my friends and relatives of my age and even many who are few years younger have stopped driving cars, I continue to drive even during nights when the headlights of vehicles from the opposite direction cause problems. I do not consider even the notorious traffic problems in Bangalore as a hindrance for my driving around!
My experiences conclusively prove that much can be achieved by positive thinking. But, success can be achieved only by getting rid of negative thoughts & doubts and constant positive thinking with determination, patience and perseverance. Anyone who thinks that positive thinking is a magic wand will be disillusioned. Persistent efforts, with confidence and determination, are a must. This can be easily done if there is a will to do so. Boldly experimenting with one or two simple experiments of positive thinking on oneself to tackle simpler problems first and watching / testing results to make sure that there is no harm, will help to build up faith, confidence and determination.
Looking back now, the terrible night that I had about 55 years back was a blessing in disguise. But for this, I would not have recognized the negative power of my mind and then developed the habit of using the positive power of my mind to counteract the negative power which did lot of harm. This is the positive way of looking at this horrible event! Be conscious that we can similarly feel relieved if we look at the positive side of most (if not all) of what happened to us. Sometimes, it may be reduction in severity for an event that was to happen with more severity e.g., having only a minor wound instead of a crippling disability which could have happened from an accident. A postponement which had irritated you might have been a blessing in disguise. The proverb "I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet." illustrates how negative thoughts can be neutralized by suitable comparisons. Any line (sad plight) can be made to look smaller by comparing with a longer line (sadder plight which others have) beside it.
It is beyond any doubt that mind has lot of unused power. The sacred Gita tells us that if we can understand, control and master the mind, it is a wonderful tool at our command but otherwise it becomes our worst enemy, thereby emphasizing both positive and negative powers of mind. It is a pity that we do not realize that we use only a minor part of our mind because of lack of an experimental spirit (mostly out of fear or pseudoscientific ego or pseudointellectualiosm), determination, patience and perseverance. We often rush to a doctor and take avoidable medicines, which deplete our immunity and generally harm our system, rather than use our own hidden power of positive thinking. Or, when faced with problems, we often worry about these (though worry does not help at all) rather than overcome them by using the positive power of our mind with determination, patience and perseverance. It is not realized that worry only brings on more negative power which cause further harm. We continue to forget that self help is the best help. Self help, using positive thinking with determination, patience and perseverance, should have first priority. Ask yourself often whether you are doing your best to tackle problems in stead of giving up the fight or leaving it to others, without doing what you can or should.
Deepak Chopra (a world famous expert on mind-body relations) has written in his book “Ageless Body and Timeless Mind” that human body is attuned to survive for about 130 years. But, our persistent negative thinking is a hindrance. Almost all our health problems are created / aggravated by our negative thoughts. Moreover, these negative thoughts hasten disabilities and death.

Now there are many books and articles about positive thinking. An old book which I found useful is “Power of the subconscious mind” by Joseph Murphy. Another (recent book) is “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. It is a good idea to read such books and follow the suggestions covering all aspects of life.

A simple, positive general thought is to say slowly to yourself for a couple of minutes that “Day by day, I am getting better and better in all respects” and repeat it often. While saying that, each time you have to relax with a pleasant mile so that you can communicate better with your sub-conscious mind which has infinite intelligence to help you. Another comparatively more specific thought is: “I am healthy and youthful (pause), active and wealthy(pause), happy and relaxed.” Pause is not essential but ensures that you are not repeating without a sense of involvement (i.e., mechanically as a by-hearted message). Be conscious that “youthful” here refers to youthful spirit resulting from good health, which will make you active, which in turn will make you wealthy and happy. Note that you start with a relaxed pleasant smile and end each time by asserting that you are relaxed. A slightly different version is “Day by day, I am becoming more and more healthy and youthful (pause), active and wealthy (pause),happy and relaxed. It is preferable to start with this when you have problems and later on switch over to the earlier version. When you are having some problem, thinking that it does not exist (in order to convince yourself that you are thinking positive) is not acceptable to your subconscious mind with infinite intelligence. You have to tell yourself calmly that you are having this problem but it will become less and less day by day and vanish soon. Caution: If you repeat any thought too often without a relaxed pleasant smile, it may cause strain and lead to other consequences. It is likely that in the initial stages of practicing positive thinking to overcome some problem, you may observe some deterioration in the problem. If so, do not give up but consider this as a testing of your faith and determination and practice with resurged faith and determination.

When you want to tackle a specific problem, repeatedly pray to God (or ask the help of omnipresent universal energy around you if you are an atheist) for solving this problem, in a relaxed manner for 3 consecutive days. Thereafter, you can construct and repeat positive specific thoughts for solving the problem, in the same way as for general positive thoughts. Repeatedly think that the problem is getting solved / is already solved, believe it and thank repeatedly for it. An example of specific thought is: “Money is flowing into my life and I am using it judiciously.” Be conscious that use of the word “judicious” is to stress that you are not seeking money out of greed and will use it for good purposes only. It also warns you that wasting money may tantamount to arrogance and “contempt” for value of money.

It is better to concentrate on minimum number of thoughts during any time period. If you use different thoughts with or without intervals, take care that they support and do not contradict each other e.g., the specific thought of “money flowing into life” supports the general thought of “being wealthy”.

Repeating such positive thoughts has to be done a number of times each day, one thought at a time, with relaxed concentration. More times for each thought the better. Each time, concentrating on one thought with a relaxed pleasant smile is important. You will find that this relaxation with a pleasant smile itself will do you lot of good (similar to, my important general achievements stated at end of page 1.) It is important to practice repeatedly every day, particularly before you are about to sleep (lying in bed) and as soon as you get up from sleep, when it is easier to communicate with your subconscious mind. For quicker results, you must get rid of negative thinking which is a powerful hindrance. Preparing a list of negative thoughts (mostly due to fear) and reviewing (questioning) it every day will help a lot.

As stated earlier, fear is our worst enemy. It also leads to anxiety. Fear and anxiety often lead to a habit of brooding also. All three are persistent negative thoughts that make matters worse. In addition, these deeply entrenched negative phobias are strong hindrances to success of positive thinking. Hence they need your special attention. Deepak Chopra says: “The voice of fear paints scenarios that seem believable… Anxiety makes it all but impossible to make rational decisions… Fear and anxiety are so gripping that they can cause one to leave all rationality and logic behind… One must learn to control their minds and overcome phobias.”

Another step for getting rid of fear is to distinguish between fear and caution. While fear is a deeply entrenched emotion not amenable to logic and reasoning, caution is an intelligently planned preventive which is not influenced by imaginary fears. Though death is a reality, we fear it. Contrary to this, we persistently close our eyes to practicing life styles and thoughts which will help us to enjoy a good and healthy life till death and will not hasten disabilities and death. Positive thinking will help us to enjoy a good and healthy life without hastening disabilities and death and deserves the highest priority.
I have written this article about the enormous and even miraculous benefits that I had actually experienced from positive thinking, with the hope that it will motivate you to come out of the rut caused by negative thoughts and doubts.

All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in that.
Swami Vivekananda

Will you believe this and act, for your own sake and for the sake of others dear to you, without finding excuses?

N.B. Reading this article repeatedly will help to increase your motivation and correct practice of positive thinking.
 
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