Look at any Best Seller list in bookshops today, and it will be full of works about the rich and famous. We learn that it’s not that they didn’t experience tough times, but that they didn’t allow the tough times to dominate their thought processes. That’s how it is; life’s achievers allow positive reasons why ‘they can’ to fill their minds, and ignore negative reasons why they can’t.
So if you’re dieting, develop a positive approach to losing the pounds. Tell yourself how good you are at healthy eating. Thinking positively opens up a wealth of solutions to any problem. A pessimistic approach though does the opposite.
This is because we have a mechanism, called the Reticular Activation System. It tells the brain what to think about. We become familiar with many things over time that don’t continue to stay in the forefront of our minds – as we store all our previous experiences in the sub conscious bit, or the back so to speak.
When we attempt to do something, our RAS (Reticular Activation System) will search for anything of significance in the sub-conscious mind, and bring it to our attention. If we’re taking a walk for example, only the things that have meaning to us will be noticed.
Therefore, if our conscious mind has generally been transferring positive, upbeat messages to our sub-conscious mind, that’s what it will send back. But if our sub-conscious has been given loads of downbeat messages, then that’s equally what will be sent back.
It appears that we can influence the messages going through to our sub-conscious minds by deliberately programming our RAS, and selecting the exact messages the conscious mind transfers. So as the sub-conscious doesn’t know what’s actually real, the RAS can be a great tool for realising ambitions.
In other words, as it believes what it’s told, we need to create a very specific picture of our goal in our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our sub-conscious – which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have remained as ‘background noise’.
A positive mental attitude has long been understood. Abandon negative thinking and keep the focus on hitting the goal. On the other hand, if we set our mind on doubt and failure, we have very little chance of reaching our goals.