The Power of Positive Thinking

I'm going to take a little break from the optometry stuff and write a bit about the power of positive thinking. I believe that we each have the power to control our own lives. We can choose the way we look at things... Sure, good and bad things will happen in all of our lives. But our perspective on our lives can play a big role on our levels of happiness.

For the past few years, I've read a few books about the Law of Attraction. To me, the take-home message is this: Positive thinking can bring positive things into your life. Here are a few quotes from different parts of The Secret that I found helpful:

From the book:

"Create your day in advance by thinking the way you want it to go, and you will create your life intentionally."

"Every single thing that you've been through, every single moment that you've come through, were all to prepare you for this moment right now."

"So inner happiness actually is the fuel of success."

"Let go of difficulties from your past, cultural codes, and social beliefs. You are the only one who can create the life you deserve."

"You cannot help the world by focusing on negative things. As you focus on the world's negative events, you not only add to them, but you also bring more negative things into your own life."

"Treat yourself with love and respect, and you will attract people who show you love and respect."

"Expectation is a powerful attractive force. Expect the things you want, and don't expect the things you don't want."

"Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have, and you will attract more good things."

"All that we are is a result of what we have thought" --Buddha

"It is impossible to feel bad and at the same time have good thoughts."

"Your current thoughts are creating your future life. What you think about the most or focus on the most will appear as your life."

Just a few quotes that I have found to be personally true. The main idea from The Secret is to take control of your life and bring positive things into your life via positive thinking.

I also recently read a book (well, audiobook, I drive a lot) called "Authentic Happiness." It was written by a psychologist, and mentioned a few studies on levels of happiness. From this book, we learn that the Beatles were right... money can't buy you love. One of the studies included information on the level of happiness for people who have won the lottery. While the lottery winners did have a temporary increase in their level of happiness, a year after winning they returned to their pre-lottery happiness level. The book goes into what can bring you true happiness, with things like family, a good social network, a career you enjoy, and a healthy lifestyle playing a major role in the happiness level. Race and income level played a surprisingly small role when determining a person's level of happiness. They also showed that physical activity caused a much higher boost in perceived happiness than watching TV. Even sitcoms, which are supposed to make you laugh, decreased the perceived happiness level of the research subjects.

So what does all this mean? Think positively and take care of yourself. You will be glad you did.