Posted by Silent Bob^a Fett at cache-dl03.proxy.aol.com on January 17, 2004 at 13:06:18:
In Reply to: Clearly, you don't know the point of art. posted by Smalls on January 17, 2004 at 10:51:16:
Seriously.
Positive thinking is a huge commodity if used properly. It's like setting goals, for example. You can set goals, sure, but they won't succeed unless your beliefs are strong enough to make it happen.
I've also recently learned about how to change the neural pathways in your brain to get yourself motivated. Here's a little advice that works:
Find something in your life that you're not happy with, and set a goal that you want to fix it. Then write a list of all the possible things that could assist in remedying the problem, whether you're apt to use them all or not. Then circle the ones you think you'll actually do and set dates for you to accomplish those things. It's amazing what can be used to better a situation that seemed to have no former correlation at all. The deciding factor in me buying a TiVo (I'd been debating for months) was that I wanted to lose weight. That sounds weird, I know, but by being able to record my shows, I'm now able to go to my TaeKwonDo class 3 to 4 days a week instead of twice a week.
Here's one more thing I highly recommend:
Find things that you dislike about your life and create a sentence that states what you want to see happen. You want this sentence to be Positive, Personal, and in the Present tense (the three "P"s). Once you have a list of a couple of these sentences, keep it by your bed and say them aloud right before you go to bed, and again first thing when you wake up. Here's an example. Let's say you are a messy person, like myself, and want to work on that. Something I've been saying twice daily now is "I get pleasure out of cleaning my apartment." My saying this aloud twice daily, you start to create a new neural pathway in your brain, and in time you start believing it. It's similar to the experimentation Pavlov used to do with dogs. With enough repitition, the brain learns. Once the belief is established, then the body will follow. FYI - it generally takes about 12 weeks to create a new neural pathway like this, so be patient. I've just started saying this one about me cleaning my apartment this year, and my place is a mess, but I'll be ready for spring cleaning!
I hope this helps to a degree, and good luck,
Adam