Life offers me the best.

Always. Life offers me blessings, hope and energy to accomplish the things I want.

Life offers me vitality and happiness.

I know what I want in life.

I have my vision and my goals.

I have examined my wants and my vision thoroughly

and I know this is what I want.

I have a clear plan for achieving what I want.

Everyday I take several definite steps towards achieving my goals.

Life offers me the best.

Always. Life offers me blessings, hope and energy to accomplish the things I want.

Life offers me vitality and happiness.

Each day I step closer to my goals as I take several specific and purposeful action towards achieving my goals.

I am positive; I am energetic.

I am powerful and purposeful, and each day I move towards my goals and desires.

It is a new day.

I wake up to its glory. I wake up to this new moment in life.

It is a new day.

There is hope, there is freshness, and there is new vigor.

I feel the strength this day.  I awake eagerly to the potential of this day.

I wake with eagerness to the opportunities and gifts life brings me this day.

It is a new day.

I wake up to its glory. I wake up to this new moment in life.

I feel the strength of the day.

I feel the energy of this day.

And like the day, I too am strong, I too am energetic.

I wake up to the tremendous potential of this day.

I wake up to the promise and hope each moment brings.

I wake up to energy, opportunity and I wake up to life.

My mind is like the sky. It stretches as far as one’s eyes can see.

My mind is like the ocean. There is great depth.

My mind is powerful. My mind is limitless.

It has infinite potential.

I love my mind. I use my mind.

I use my mind to achieve the things I want.

With positive thinking and will, I am strong. I am creative.

I achieve the things I decide  I want to have.

My mind is powerful. My mind is limitless.

It has infinite potential.

I use my mind. I love my mind.

text ©2009,  Raj Arumugam;pictures:burningwell

Positive thinking as a natural flow

Positive thinking is our natural state.

Consider, for example, the children amongst us and the young.

They are always full of positive feeling and energy until the adult world changes them through its insidious and prevalent cynicism…and through a long series of tests and evaluations that derive a negative power…and through a constant threat of what the mature world deems to be failure.

Still, people bounce back and many reclaim their natural positivism.

Positive thinking is powerful. It is your birthright. Look carefully in your mind and your environment; look clearly and you will see your resilient nature, waiting and ready.

Seize it. It’s yours.

Purposeful action

Thinking alone will not bring you what you want.

One must have a clear and definite purpose – and one must have a plan to achieve one’s goals.

And one’s plans must be backed up by action and persistence – sustained effort and action which are purposeful, and which draws one closer to one’s dreams and aspirations. Positive thinking, so inextricably linked with our wholesome desires, is that force that gives the initial impetus and which provides the strength and energy throughout the journey, and on in new journeys.

In this context, one should remind oneself of Napoleon Hill’s rather terse statement about one of the main requirements for personal success:

A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.

Napoleon Hill, though his most famous work is entitled Think and Grow Rich, did not certainly suggest that thinking alone was enough.

Central to his teachings is the need for action.

When does it become naivety?

One of the secrets of using this power of positive thinking is to see when mere wishful thinking or plain naivety disguises itself as positive thinking.

The truly positive person will see this disguise and cannot be deceived by this negative force or its representatives. Nor can those in their natural state of positivism be discouraged for long from marching on towards their goals with precise and purposeful action.

For, such people, as Napoleon Hill tells us, have a mind that is closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.

Some relevant words from George S. Calson’s ‘The Richest Man in Babylon‘:

Here are a few relevant quotes from the chapter Meet the Goddess of Good Luck.

I have modified the language slightly in order to render the language a bit more contemporary.

Arkad:

During my long life I have watched generation following generation, marching forward along those avenues of trade, science and learning that lead to success in life. Opportunities came to all these people. Some grasped theirs and moved steadily to the gratification of their deepest desires, but the majority hesitated, faltered and fell behind.

The cloth weaver:

From our discussion have I learned that to attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities.

Arkad:

The truth is this: Good luck can be enticed by accepting opportunity.

Action will lead you forward to the successes you desire.

The person of action is favoured by the goddess of good luck.

Is there a way in which we can ensure that positive thinking is abiding, strong and easily renewed?
There is a way -  just begin with love.
Love yourself, and love the world – and positive thinking is always yours.

Let’s look at it this way.
If you love your siblings, if you love your parents, your wife or husband you wouldn’t want anything but the best for them, would you?
So love motivates - love brings positive thinking that is ever renewed.

Do everything you do because of this love you have for others – and positive thinking will be yours always. You’ll always be charged and motivated – all you have to do is to think about your loved ones.

When things look difficult and tough, you know you are doing it for those you love, and that will keep you going. When things are right, you’ll be even happier because what you have done is not just for yourself but for people you love.

Expand this love to include  people beyond your family and relatives – expand your love to include your town, your city, your state, your country and even the world – and do everything you do with love. You’ll feel that same power that you feel as when you do things for your loved ones – except now, if you can learn to love the world, your satisfaction is even greater. You have made an even larger group of people happier.

Love yourself too. Just as you love your relatives and the world, you can love yourself. And just as you do things for others, you should also do things for yourself. Love yourself.

Love yourself and love the world.

That love that includes the self, the family, the group and the world will charge you with an awesome power and it will keep you energetic and positive always.
Do everything you do with love and you’ll get there to your aspirations and objectives sooner.
Begin with love. That way you’ll find your positive energy always abiding and constantly self-renewing.

begin with love text ©2009, Raj Arumugam; pictures: burningwell

…look up at the sky – Oh, do look up at the sky…look up at the sky that stretches in all directions and wherever one may turn…look up at the sky all above and that falls beyond the end of the visible earth…look up at the sky that stretches beyond one’s vision and look beyond the sky into limitless space…

…see, time and care and the narrowness of one’s conditioning confine one and bends one’s mind – as one’s back is bent, and one’s neck is loaded down; and one’s eyes are fixed to the spotlight-defined meters as one stands one’s ground…Oh , but just look up at the sky…

…look up at the sky in the day and see its deep blue…look up at the sky and see the clouds and the sun, and the brilliance and the lack of limits and confines…look up at the sky in the morning and see the sun rise, and behold its wonder and its colors…look up at the sky at twilight and look at it at night with the moon and the stars and the infinite space that stretches beyond…

…look up at the sky and behold its wonders and splendor and its power… look up at the sky and the space beyond and behold its brilliance and limitlessness…

Oh, look up at the sky and the space beyond – and behold the limitlessness of the mind…behold there the infinite stretch of your mind, of the mind…behold the skies and space, and behold the power and glory and the unconfined, unconditioned freedom and brilliance of your mind and your being, of the unconfined mind and of unconditioned being…

look up at the sky…text©2009, Raj Arumugam; pictures: burningwell

…a walk brings peace; a walk brings quiet and bliss…a walk brings energy and silence and hope, brightness and balance….

…walk in silence amongst the trees and the woods…there are no objectives in this walk…let it be a walk of love…of that love between oneself and life…of that love in oneself, in nature – of  love in the world…

…if you walk alone, it is good to walk without all that chatter in one’s mind; if you walk with a friend or partner, it is good to walk in silence…… let there be silence as one walks – silence within one, and between oneself and one’s companions…rather, see for  yourself how one is but part of the world as you walk…be part of the nature that surrounds you as you walk…

…observe the trees and the plants and the very path one walks on…observe the very flowers that greet one in one’s walk….there is no need to remark on the beauty or quiet or the special-ness of the place one walks in…one just walks, being part of the world one is in…

…just observe, and meet the trees and the woods and the flowers and the fields that greet one in one’s walk…

…a walk brings peace; a walk brings quiet and bliss…a walk brings energy and silence and hope, brightness and balance….

walk into peace  © 2009; Raj Arumugam, painting by Liang Kai

a quiet walk

did no one harm;

away from the clamor and the ambitions

and leaving the clutter and vanities

a walk in the silence

and amongst the trees

and just being with the colors

and the feel and the texture of the trunks;

and being with the  tender touch of the branches

that reach out to one

when solitude is crisp silence;

all these being simply  part of oneself

and one’s calm and peace;

walk then, now,

in this and in these ample grounds

amongst the trees and observing the gentle leaves;

let us enter the wholeness that is ours

a quiet walk text © 2009; Raj Arumugam, painting by Tang Yin

1

Smile. Just smile.

Smiling lifts your spirits. Just smile.

2

Say something positive to yourself.

Think of a recent success and how well you did on that occasion. Praise yourself for that.

3

Sing to yourself. Do you know a simple happy song?

Just sing it to yourself.

4

On a sheet of paper write down all that is good in your life.

Also list all your strengths.

Go through each good and happy thing in your life and your strengths and think about each in detail. As you think over the details of each blessing in your life, feel how refreshing and uplifting it is. Spend about at least ten minutes on this exercise – and see how much better you feel after that.

5

Think of someone who’s an inspiration to you.

Is there someone who always appears cool and calm and happy to you?

An uncle? Your grandma? Think about all the person’s positive qualities; visualize the person in their calm and happy mood.  This will make you feel much better.

6

Tell a joke. Or get someone to tell you a joke.

Laughter is indeed the best medicine.

7

Talk to someone whom you know you can trust.

Tell the person how you feel.

Just talking to someone you can trust may help you out of the

situation.

8

Read something motivational. There are many books and  websites that are inspirational.  Listen to a song – a happy song; a song with a fast beat or an inspirational song.

9

Practice meditation

10

Close your eyes and tell yourself:

I am happy. I can look at this problem and solve it.

11

Speak to a friend. Call someone you’ve not spoken

to in a  long while.

You may not even have to tell the friend your problem. Just   chatting about things may push you out of your mood and bring you into high spirits.

12

Have a personal anthem!

So you know how you feel. Sing to yourself a song that inspires you. Or write one and compose the music yourself. It doesn’t have to be in the top 100 of the World of Pop – just composing a happy song and singing it to yourself as a sort of personal anthem can lift your spirits!

Similarly writing a poem or just drawing on a sheet of paper can help.

13

Learn to accept things you can’t change

Don’t try and change everything around you. There are some things we can’t change. Just accept it, take steps to ensure it doesn’t impose on you and move on.

14

Learn to accept people as they are.

15

Don’t get irritated with minor things

Don’t let the small things irritate you!

Sometimes we get irritated because a waiter was rude to us or because we were re-directed on the phone three or four times.

Don’t let these things control how you feel – be at ease.

Deal with the situation calmly and forget it and move on.

16

Stay away from negative talk. Have you ever been in a situation where one person brings up a perceived problem, and another person has another story in a similar negative vein and so this goes on…and soon everyone has worked themselves in to a desperate and helpless feeling… ?

Well, don’t get into this sort of situation.

17

Write down why you feel low and you can then plan to deal with the problems or issues.

Writing down how you feel makes you think clearly. Write down what and how you feel and trace the reasons why you feel this way. Read them again carefully, you can then come up with a plan to tackle the problem. Now go and get on with life – happy and in high spirits.

18

Watch the feeling as it grows

You can, if you observe yourself and your thoughts enough, feel how your feelings are growing. You can know when you are getting irritated or angry and then that feeling driving you into anger. Observe carefully the feeling and – by just observing the feeling as it arises, you will find that feeling will weaken. Just observe the feeling…See what happens…

19

Sleep it off!

Sometimes you may be feeling low because you are just too tired. Just have a nap – and see how different you feel after.

20

Have a refreshing drink or take a break or have a shower. Sometimes just washing your face with some cool water can make you feel better.

Smile – you deserve to be happy !