Negative Images
For some reason, most people find it easier to think in a negative way than in a positive manner. It seems that some effort is needed to think positive thoughts, whereas negative thinking comes easily and uninvited. This has much to do with education and the environment one has been living in.
The power of negative thinking cannot be underestimated. It controls us, wounds us, limits us, and ultimately destroys us. Very often the vast majority of our negative thinking comes from beliefs that are well past their use by date. Our habitual flow of thoughts is more negative than positive, generated by beliefs, fears and attitudes that no longer belong to who we are today!
The power of negative thinking distorts our present moments, trapping us in out-dated thought modes and playing havoc with our physical bodies and emotions.
The power of negative thinking distorts our present moments, trapping us in out-dated thought modes and playing havoc with our physical bodies and emotions.
All of the great exponents of personal development and self-improvement speak of the importance of understanding the power of thoughts to shape our lives for the better. They also share in common the knowledge that our beliefs are our thoughts and our thoughts determine our future.
For instance, from Napoleon Hill's best seller, “Think and Grow Rich” to Dr. Wayne Dyer's “You’ll see it when you believe it” and Anthony Robbins teaching: “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped”, these teachings are clearly documented.
My early understanding of the power of our thoughts to create change came from reading the classic - “You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay”.
The good news is - we can change our thoughts.
The good news is - we can change our thoughts.
Louise Hay teaches that life is very simple! Every thought you think creates your future and thoughts can be changed.
We all know that although it may be a simple idea, grasping it and applying it to our own lives can be another story!
Embarking on the rich journey of reclaiming our authentic self is all about recognizing and understanding our thoughts - why we believe the way we do - how our thinking limits us and makes us powerless - and how we can turn those negative thoughts around and to learn to love and respect both ourselves and others.
Constantly thinking negative thoughts has the power to truly break us and destroy our lives. That's the profound message and it really is as simple as that.
I truly believe that when we grasp the immensity of this simplicity, then we are on the way forward in our journey of real, meaningful change. If we can choose our thoughts, then we have the ability to create amazing change in our lives.
Do you know that our thoughts are like sign posts? They lead us in the direction they are following. So, for instance, if we are thinking negative, limiting thoughts that are the direction in which we will go - right along the path that we are creating with our thinking.
If our thought about our own capabilities are regularly self-defeating, critical and ‘unpowering’, that is the path they will take us along. The path of self-defeat and limited opportunities.
Why?
Napoleon Hill explains it this way: “That which people believes, talk about and fear, whether it be good or bad, has a very definite way of making its appearance in one form or another”.
We know about the power of positive thinking - about the scientific basis behind like attracting like - about karma and what goes around comes around - so why is it we fail to truly grasp the real truth about the power of negative thinking?
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate" ~ Carl Jung
FOUR GUINEA FOWLS.
In 2010, I travelled to my hometown Gbedema Jagsa, a suburb of the Builsa district – Upper East Region, during the Christmas festivities to pay my parents a visit as I always do. On my way back I decided I would call upon my uncle before I return to the city. On my return, he compensated me with four guinea fowls as Christmas gift. The fowls were tied and safely placed in an empty key soap box.
On getting home, I decided to untie the fowls temporarily to enable them have some rest a while. Now watch what transpired next. After I had untied those fowls I thought they would run, jump and have some fun after they had been released from prison. For thirty to one hour, I watched these fowls thinking they would run, unfortunately, they did not regardless of all the noises children made around them. I was beginning to think my uncle perhaps did not give me healthy fowls.
For several minutes, still, the fowls never moved an inch irrespective of the noise around. I could not wait any seconds more so I decided I would push them with a stick. It was after I pushed them that the fowls made an attempt to run and they did move afterward.
DELIVERED BUT DAMAGED.
I spent several hours thinking and meditating over the amazing encounter I had had with those guinea fowls. What at all could have been the cause? I thought extensively over and over the encounter I had with those poor guinea fowls even on my way back to Kumasi till the Lord made the message clearer through another revelation.
IN THE BUS........
In those days anytime I wanted to travel home I would use the State Transport. I believe it was safe, convenient and time bound (that was then). Now on my way back to KumaNegative Imagessi the very day I had the first revelation, this was how the second revelation came to me. It came to me in disguise; in a very queer manner.
Though I had come to the STC station late I was fortunate to have been offered the first seat I always desired so I could watch what was going on as we travel. If you have ever travelled to the Northern Region of Ghana during the year 2010 you would recall that from Kintampo to Techiman, part of the road was very bad as maintenance work were also seriously on-going.
When we reached part of the road that looks extremely bad to drive, the driver took his time, slowed down so that he could manoeuvre us through the rough road. No longer had a time, the driver managed to drive passed the rough side of the road.
Though we had successfully passed the rough road, the driver continued to drive as if we were still on the rough road. I wanted to ask the driver why he was still driving at a slow pace, but thought it was too early, perhaps he was tired. For more than thirty to forty minutes, the situation got worse. Most of the passengers on board the transport couldn’t hold their patience any longer though they couldn’t express their suppressed anger for fear of being assaulted. I couldn’t keep my silence any longer with the hope that some of the passengers would rally behind me in case of anything untoward.
“Ouch bro sorry, I actually thought I was still on that bad dusty old road”. The driver bellowed after I had gathered the courage to question him why he was still driving at a very slow pace though he had successfully passed the rough side of the road. Immediately after that he sped off as someone being chased by an army of armed robbers.
I was breathless. I continued to ponder over what had transpired. It was the second time similar message had been given to me in less than 24 hours. Most times this is how the Lord reveals his ideas to us; but unless the Holy Spirit opens your mind, you may never know you have been indirectly spoken to by the Most High God. I began to think over and over juxtaposing both messages; and it was after I realized the messages were the same, however, came in two different ways akin to the dreams king Pharaoh had in Old Testament times.
According to C. Joy Bell, “Life is a bowl of cherries. Some cherries are rotten while others are good; it’s your job to throw out the rotten ones and forget about them while you enjoy eating the ones that are good! There are two kinds of people: those who choose to throw out the good cherries and wallow in all the rotten ones, and those who choose to throw out all the rotten ones and savour all the good ones.” This is not just a story to read but a message that is meant to transform your thinking mentality. I have a good number of friends who failed in life not because they were not given, but because their thinking mentality deceived them into believing they were unqualified for the blessing bestowed on all humanity. Even still we have Christians across the continent that are still in this web, no wonder we often see or hear people run to other men of God to do fasting and prayers on their behalf.
This article I called the ‘article of total liberty’ is meant to disabuse your mentality of such negative pictures you have in your mind that is actually doing you a lot of harm by preventing you from having access to your ‘honey’ and ‘milk’.
We shall delve deeper into the story of Moses, Joshua and the twelve spies in the course of our discussion. It is meant to embellish, and throw more light into our discussion of NEGATIVE PORTRAIT.
NOW before we proceed let us first try to understand both terms “negative” and “image” to help us really appreciate where we are heading to so far as this interesting topic is concerned.
An image is an actual or a mental picture: a picture or likeness of somebody or something, produced either physically by a sculptor, painter, or photographer, or formed in the mind. Or, it is the likeness seen or produced: the likeness of somebody or something that appears in a mirror, through a lens, or on the retina of the eye, or is produced electronically on a screen. For the sake of this discussion I would like us to stick to the above simple meanings of image.
According to ENCARTA Dictionaries, to be negative simple means being pessimistic: pessimistic or tending to have pessimistic outlooks.
In the light of all the above what then is ‘NEGATIVE PORTRAIT OR IMAGE’?
a) In the first place it is a SHADOW OF WRONG IMAGES or pictures IN THE MIND.
b) IT IS THE ACCUMMULATION OF A DECEPTIVE PICTURE OF THE ACTUAL IMAGE SEEN some time past.
c) THE WRONG CONCEPTION OF AN IDEA THAT SEEMS TO BE THE REAL OR TRUE IDEA OF WHAT YOU KNOW FOR A LONG TIME.
Success is all there is; failure is success misunderstood.
There are only two entrepreneurial emotions Success and failure. Ultimately, Success is all that exists; but for some reason mankind has decided to confuse the business-person mind-set with the possibility of failure. Please believe the following truth before reading the rest of this piece.
The illusion of failure is a manufactured emotion that exists in a world of only Success. If you feel that failure exists within your entrepreneurial mind-set, you have success completely misunderstood.
All of us entrepreneurs were born into this business world with loving goals of success in mind; therefore, Success is our natural state of being, since we were born believing in it. Success is all there is, all there was, and all there ever will be. If this is so, then where did the idea of failure ever come into existence? Just like the monster underneath the bed, we completely fabricated the illusion of failure.
The most counter-productive operation of your business is how you mis-perceive your natural levels of success. Know this right now. You are successful! Your company could have just gone under, and yet you are still a success! Success is always hidden beneath failure, if you will only take a moment to recognize it. Remember. Success is all there is; and failure is simply Success misunderstood.
Since failure is merely an illusion, it had to have been conceptualized into your life via some particular occurrence, right?
Often times, the idea of failure is initially manufactured within your being after you have witnessed another person stumble in their pursuit to create success (Remember, Success cannot be created because Success is naturally all there is). What has happened is that you’ve either perceived this individual to be less than successful in relation to your own standards, or been told by the individual, themselves, that they are a failure. As soon as you perceive another individual as a failure, or experience someone else deeming their self a failure, you potentially materialize future illusions of failure into your own business life. It’s amazing how reality can so easily be thwarted by something that doesn’t even exist!
This can’t be stressed enough. Success is all there is, and failure is a man-made illusion! Your business state of being is always determined by one brand of thought. Your perception towards it. There are actually entrepreneurs out there who perceive themselves to be failures, while at the same time having millions of customers and even more cedi bills in their bank account. How well do you think these businesses would be doing if their owner thought of their self as a success? Perceiving you to be a failure does not breed Success; but Success always, in all-ways, breeds Success. If you truly believe that you are pure Success, and always will be, then you won’t ever have to fear the possibility of failing; because in reality, failure doesn’t even exist as an option.
The perception you have towards your business must always involve the natural emotion of Success. If you don’t, you’re simply going against Nature’s will “ And Nature’s will is that Success is the only emotion an entrepreneur can ever feel; because after all, Success is all there is
What kept the four guinea fowls from moving was the belief that they were still tied up. What kept the stc driver from moving better was the belief that he was still on the rough road. Perhaps what is keeping you where you are today is just a simple event: what happened to you in some time past. How long would you allow those past events to hunt you? How long would you allow what has happened to others prevent you from undertaking what you always wanted to do?
If I were you I would think again after reading this piece. I would change my thinking pattern forever. Don’t allow past events to hamper you from achieving your set goal in life.
Wishing you continued success.
Watch out for NEGATIVE PORTRAIT (Part II)
By: Analimbey Adobe-Rah Chris
@analimbeychris (on twitter)
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