Negative thoughts are like clouds. Sometimes you can find one or two in your mind, but sometimes they crowd up your mind so much that you can’t see any light through them. We all get negative thoughts. But, we also all have the ability to minimize them as much as possible and create more positive thoughts in our lives.
I’m currently reading Happiness At Work, by Srikumar S. Rao, Ph.D. He’s the guy behind the Personal Mastery course on Mindvalley.
His course and his book are almost identical – as far as I’ve been able to tell so far. They both do a few things really well, including helping you banish negative thoughts from your life.
In short, Srikumar’s lessons are powerful, and I’ve created some positive affirmations around his lessons to help me create more positive thoughts in my life that drown out those negative ones. I’ve already included one powerful affirmation I learned from Srikumar in my last post. Following are 4 more.
I Am An Actor, Not A Character
Srikumar describes an acting situation, where an actor plays the character that is stricken with bad luck and negative things. The actor doesn’t get emotionally invested in what the character is going through. He doesn’t go home for the day and see the world in an ugly way as his character does. He’s simply acting. He’s playing his part very well so that he can be paid and get future acting gigs.
This affirmation helps me remember that my story isn’t written in stone. It helps me cultivate more positive thoughts in any situation. There’s no point getting upset about one thing because, as an actor, I’m going to take on a new role soon. It may be a role where I have amazing experiences from start to finish and nothing goes wrong in my life. Or, it may just be a role that portrays a character much happier than this one. Either way, soon this gig will be over and I will be on to the next gig.
This thought pattern helps me feel stop the consistent wheel of negative thoughts that come during bad times as I know that soon it will be over.
It also helps me choose my ‘roles’ more carefully because I don’t want to constantly choose things that make me suffer in any way.
This requires some thought to understand, but it’s worth it.
That’s something you will notice with Srikumar if you take his courses or read his books – it’s deep, deep stuff that can radically change the way you think and, consequently, change the way you experience your life and help you have more positive thoughts in situations you couldn’t have them before.
I Let Things Go As Easily As A Baby
Srikumar points out that babies let things go very easily. For instance, if you take their bottle away, they may throw a fit. But, when you give it back, they move on. They don’t hang on to the experience. They don’t have the expectation that you will again pull it away from them. They just carry on with what they are doing.
This affirmation reminds me to let go of a negative experience I have so it doesn’t affect me negatively afterward and can have more positive thoughts.
For instance, hanging out with my mother is not always pleasant. Sometimes she’s grumpy and does something that hurts my feelings or makes me feel upset in some way. When that happens, I don’t hold onto that experience until I see her again. I let it go. If I held on to it, I would constantly be thinking negative thoughts about it until I saw her again. Furthermore, it would affect my experience with her negatively the next time we go together.
It’s important to be able to drop the mental baggage of what happened and what might happen again.
Obviously, this doesn’t apply to everything. If you are being abused, don’t let it go as if nothing will happen again. Find a way to get out of the situation or you will never be able to stop drowning in negative thoughts.
But, for the most part, you will find that letting go of anger or hurt in situations is beneficial to gathering more positive thoughts in your life. You won’t have so many negative thoughts hanging around and mucking up your headspace or experiences.
I Do What I Can Everyday
Here’s a huge affirmation that can help you be happier in life.
Srikumar teaches that it’s the process that matters, not the goal. It’s not that we shouldn’t have visions for our future and goals we are working towards, but we shouldn’t be so fixated on the goal that we beat ourselves up during the process.
The problem with being focused on the goal is that when things go wrong, and they always do, you beat yourself up over it. If you don’t reach your goal or if you obtain something different, then you beat yourself up over it.
This affirmation helps me do what I can each day to move me towards my vision knowing that I am doing what I can and that’s enough. I don’t worry if something goes wrong because all I can do each day is the best I can.
In other words, I tie my well-being to the success of my efforts, as Srikumar says, not to the outcomes. If I put in a lot of effort, I’m proud of myself and have positive thoughts. I don’t stress out or get upset if something goes wrong. It’s the effort that counts in my days.
Everything Resolves Itself Eventually
No matter how big a problem seems, I can keep my wits about me because I constantly affirm to myself that everything resolves itself eventually.
I know this is true because I’ve experienced it over and over again. I’ve never been stuck in a negative situation because, with the right effort, it resolves itself eventually.
Srikumar asks you to look back at your life 10 years ago and think about the problems that you were having then. He asks you to think about how many problems have resolved themselves. He states that it’s likely the issues that keep you awake at night have simply gone away.
This is true for me.
Is it true for you? If it is, then why torture yourself dwelling on negative situations. Affirm to yourself that everything resolves itself eventually and then get busy taking action that moves you forward with more positive thoughts.
