The TRUTH About What REALLY Causes Negative Thoughts

Do you feel that your negative thoughts are holding you back from being happy in life? You’re about to discover HOW you can still live HAPPILY when things don’t go your way….even if your lifeis filled with conflict and turmoil right now…and you can’t see a way out.nnAre you a SLAVE to your circumstances? What I mean is, do youlet the ups and downs of life control how you feel inside? If youdo, don’t worry…you’re not alone. nnMost people believe that it is the events that happen in your life that make you feel a certain way. For instance, you get a promotion…you feel good. A plane crashes…you feel bad. But what if that promotion added a significant amount of pressure to your job which made each day more stressful than the next? And what if the plane that crashed was an unmanned test plane built to save thousands of lives?nnDespite what you may have heard, events themselves have NOMEANING. It’s true. It is not the events (the things that happen)around you that control how you feel. It’s something else entirely. nnIf the circumstances in your life are not what make you feel good or bad, then WHAT DOES? nnIf you’re thinking…..“my mother in-law”…bzzzzz…sorry, that’snot it either. It is NOT the people in your life OR the events that happen around you that control the way you feel. nnInstead, the answer is…YOU. Only YOU have the power to control your feelings. I’ll prove it….nnImagine you’re laying in a hammock on vacation in Hawaii. It’s a beautiful day and there’s a slight breeze. It’s just the right temperature and nothing could make the day any more perfect. Then suddenly you get a call on your cell phone from your boss with news that a major corporation has just bought out your employer and hired a completely new staff…leaving you without a job! nnImmediately your imagination becomes flooded with thoughts of your endless search for a job. You picture bill collectors ‘knocking at yourdoor’ demanding last months mortgage payment and the bank coming to repossess your home! And so on, and so on…until almost instantly you start to feel nauseous. nnDid you read that last part about when you start to FEELnauseous? What’s happening in reality is you’re sittingon the beach enjoying your vacation….but what’s happeningin your imagination is a series of negative images or ‘pictures’ caused by this sudden turn of events. nnNow how could that be? If events around you control the way you feel…then how could you feel so miserable when in REALITY, you’re laying in a hammock on a beautiful beach?nnSimple. Because you let your imagination take over. Insteadof thinking about reality, (the beautiful day on the beach) yourmind was focused on the terrible images of what MIGHT happenwhen you return from your vacation. (Bill collectors, job hunting,etc.)nnSo what’s a better way to handle the situation? Simply change the ‘picture’ in your imagination. Just think of how you’dfeel if, instead of dwelling on the negative events that MIGHT happen in the future, you thought of something positive instead.nnAnd don’t forget, these negative events haven’t even happened yet!There could be a sudden turn of events in your favor and you would’veruined your vacation for nothing!nnSo instead of instantly reacting to an event, just change the ‘picture’ in your imagination. You can do this by thinking of a good memory from your past that makes you feel warm and secure.nnNow I know you may be thinking… “Yeah right, easier said thandone”, but just think of the benefit of doing this…nnLet’s say you receive the bad news from your boss, and instead of letting yourself get worked up over it, you think of your most cherished memory in life….the one that instantly makes you feel good. How can you feel miserable when you’re basically ‘reliving’ this comforting moment fromyour past? You can’t! nnYou will immediately start to feel very good. That is how powerful your imagination is…if you decide to use it the RIGHT way.nnMake no mistake: I’m not telling you to be completely oblivious of the problems around you, but the bottom line is this: you can only make rationaldecisions when you’re thinking CLEARLY. And how do you expect tothink clearly when your imagination is filled with negative ‘pictures’ that create fear and anxiety?nnWhen your head is clear, you can then begin to devise an action plan. If you lost your job, start by ‘sprucing up’ your resume. Do you know anyone who could help you out? What are your skills? Could you get a great referral from your previous employer? These steps can only be accomplished when you’re feeling good about yourself. If you’re not, it shows through. And in this case, it would make finding a job much more difficult.nnWhat it all boils down to is this…if you let the ups and downs of lifecontrol your thoughts and feelings, you’re destined for a very unhappyand unproductive life. But if you learn to CONTROL your negative thoughts by replacing them with more positive ones, it will be much easier to LEARNfrom your experiences, instead of dwelling on them.