POSITIVE THINKING - SQUASHING THE ANTs

Hello,

Many of us might have struggled with ANTs in our daily lives.

So what are ANTs and how do we get rid of them?

In his book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life," Dr. Daniel Amen talks about "ANTs" - Automatic Negative Thoughts.

These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like "Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me," or "The boss wants to see me? It must be bad!"

I had this ANT bothering me whenever I used to get a telephone call. I always used to think of the worst when the bell would start ringing.

My heart would beat furiously if the boss or a customer was on the other end of the line. I was always the dreading the worst; always concluding before picking up the phone that it was going to be a reprimand for a mistake I have made or a complain for not doing the assigned task properly.

When I started analyzing the cause of my anxiety I realized that it was my own creation.

I started keeping track of the calls and noticed that a majority of the phone calls were either enquiries or requests.

Even when I had concluded so, I could not help my heart from feeling the anxiety.

I had no one to coach me on how to handle these anxiety pangs and I learnt it the hard way.

I did not know that I was squashing the ANTs but this is what I exactly did.

If it was my boss calling I did not pick up the phone. Luckily my boss was always seated a couple of cabins away and so whenever I saw his/her number in the caller identity I just rushed across to their cabin.

The boss generally calls you when they need some clarification/ suggestion and this face to face interaction helped me gauge the mood in a better way. This helped in killing my anxiety and thereby improving my responses.

In the case of customers I adopted the simple technique of starting with a greeting. By the time we have finished the greetings formalities in the typical long drawn arabic style the complain, if any got whittled down to a friendly suggestion.

After practising it for some time I realized that I no longer panic when I get the phone calls.

I managed to squash the ANT and realized that it was only an artificial creation, a mirage that showed itself to quench my thirst for anxiety and worry.

Once the thrist was conquered the mirage disappeared.

Negative thoughts are nothing more than ANTs.

Squash them!

Best wishes,

Manoj

POSITIVE THINKING - SOME EXAMPLES

Hello,

Some of the important events in history of mankind started with just one person's imagination.

Just imagine the power of Imagination that lead Newton to the path breaking law of Gravity.

It is imagination that lead to the creation of the wheel, discovery of fire, electricity, the alphabet, numbers, language, printing press, etc.

If it can do such great things can it not accomplish our small tasks.

Yes, imagination backed by belief can help us achieve our dreams.

Our desires and dreams are very puny when we compare it with what Newton, Stevenson, Braille, Wright brothers, etc have thought of and achieved.

Our belief in self plays an important role in achieving any kind of success and goal.
As stated in my previous post we achieve minor goals on a day-to-day basis, because we know what we want.

This is the basic requirement of success - we must know what we really want.

A vague need does not bring your thoughts into focus. Being famous is a vague need but being a famous writer/player/actor/dancer is a focussed need.

We can get to our aim in life with focused and clear thinking. This ability can be improved and strengthened by practice.

The next step is to put the thought into action through a plan.

If the goal is well defined we can very easily find a way to reach it. This is well explained in my post on 'EKLAVYA'. Our imagination, our power of the mind can make us all 'Eklavya'.

As with Eklavya we have to have a clear mental image of our aim, and then regular training of this imagination can do wonders.

Always keep your focus on what you want to achieve, and then let your imagination take control. This will enhance our ability to succeed.

But success is not easy. Patience, self-discipline and the power to persist in the effort to succeed will once again require the utmost of positive thinking.

Affirmation is a very essential mental tool. Affirmation allows the idea to sink into the subconscious mind and consequently affects our behavior and actions. If our affirmations are positive, they lead you to success.

If we pour our positive thoughts into our subconscious every day they become strong and affect our attitude, expectations, behavior and actions. Our positive thoughts not only work magic on us but also affect other people, who go out of the way to offer help or opportunities.

Positive thoughts create coincidences and opportunities.

One thing that has no place is doubt. If we are clear about of aim, have the concentration, control over thoughts, willpower, self-discipline and patience there will be no place for doubt. Doubt, fear arising out of doubt and worries related to failure is the biggest reason for failure.

So, Positive thinking with no place for doubt is the road to success.

Best regards,

Manoj

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS OR PERISH

Hello,

Perils of not relying on your thoughts

Going back to the Mahabharata I wish to bring into focus the powers of trusting your thoughts and the perils of allowing any other idea to dominate it.

The story of Dronacharya best exemplifies this peril:

When the war of Mahabharata started Bhishma Pitamaha led the warriors fighting for the Kauravas. After ten days of intense fighting, Shikhandi and Arjun plotted to make him incapable of any further participation in the war.

The next leader was Dronacharya, who was the Guru of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. As Dronacharya had a weakness for Arjuna and the Pandavas, he did not fight to his full potential in the beginning. Then on being accused by Duryodhana of the same, he started attacking the Pandavas with ferocity that had the Pandava camp worried.

On the fifteenth day of the war, Dronacharya was using the Brahmadanda, a weapon nobody else had any knowledge about and was single handedly winning the war for the Kauravas. His plan was to capture the Yudhisthira, the leader of the Pandavas and he was almost at the verge of doing so when he made a fatal mistake.

He made the mistake of not having faith on his thoughts and relying on something else.

If Dronachrya had a weakness it was his son, Ashwathama. Ashwathama was immortal and a very brave warrior. There was never any question of his dying.

Krishna, who knew about Dronacharya's love for Ashwathama, conspired with the Pandavas to play a trick and get rid of Dronacharya.

Bhima, the Pandava mace warrior, killed an elephant by the named Ashwathama. He then loudly proclaimed in the presence of Dronacharya that Ashwathama was dead.

Drona did not believe Bhima's words.

However instead of relying on his knowledge and trusting his thoughts about the invincibility and immortality of Ashwathama, he decided to rely on the words of Yudhisthira, who had taken a vow of firm adherence to the truth.

This was a fatal mistake

When Drona approached Yudhisthira and asked him the question, Yudhisthira said "Ashwathama hathaha kunjaraha" (In Sanskrit "Ashwathama hathaha" means 'ashwathama is dead' and "kunjaraha" means 'elephant').

But on krishna's instructions, Yudhisthira deliberately spoke the word 'kunjaraha' in a low voice which is drowned by the sound of trumpets and conchshells that started at that moment.

Believing that his son is dead, Drona gets disheartened and laid down his weapons. He was then killed by Dhristadyumna.

Ashwathama was only the third person on the Kauravas who survived the Mahabharata in which approximately 2 million warriors and other people were killed.

His father, who was aware of his invincibility, did not have faith in his own thoughts and paid for it with his life.

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS.

Best regards,

Manoj

POSITIVE THINKING - TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS

Hello,

I have been reading about how important it is to trust our own thoughts.
The books say that it is the first weapon we have to use for climbing the ladder of success.
But they do not talk about any other options. They do not tell us whether we can take help of some other weapon for success.
Is it the first weapon or the only weapon we actually use to start our campaign?
How do we start on this path?

Trusting your thoughts is innate:
Take a look at our daily life. We trust our thoughts on so many simple things for achieving success - Like leaving home at a particular time to reach our office before time, carrying small change so that we are able to pay for the parking ticket and get out of the gate without delay, knowing that you will be served food when you reach home.
These actions do illustrate that we do trust our thoughts and we do meet with success when we trust them. It comes naturally to us.
So if it is already proved that we succeed when we trust our thoughts why not use it always. Why let clouds of doubt cover the bright rays that our thoughts generate.
You are already on the path, let there be no diversion.

Are there any alternates:
Yes, we have alternates. Have you noticed how you have outperformed when your confidence is boosted by kind words from someone? How an increment, a bonus has spurred you to put up an exceptional performance. So building up confidence and gratitude are the alternates. But what do they do – they make you trust your thoughts – back to square one.
Is this a viable alternative? No it is not.
While people may be ready and available to boost your confidence on some occasions, they will not be available all the time. (Sometimes even your parents, spouse and children doubt your abilities) While your organisation may reward you with a bonus or increment they may also refuse to do so. So the alternate weapons are not reliable. They are supplements to your strength not your strength.
Why not use the weapon that is totally under your command.

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS.
Write down your thoughts and repeat it to yourself every night and morning till it registers into your subconscious. Let your inherent skills take over, do not let this weapon be shadowed by doubts and let it lead you to success.
Best regards,
Manoj

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS - POSITIVE THINKING

Hello,

FAITH IN YOUR THOUGHTS

The first and most important weapon of positive thinking is trust in your thoughts.

If you trust your thoughts you have the power to move mountains.
This can be best exemplified by the story of EKLAVYA .

For people who are not aware of the story, it runs as under:

Eklavya would see Dronacharya teach archery to the Pandavas and Kauravas, the princes of Hastinapur.
One day he came to Dronacharya and requested him to be his Guru as well.
When Dronacharya came to know that he was Eklavya, the son of Hiranyadhanu, the king of Nishaad, he refused to take him as his disciple as he was not a Kshatriya.

Disappointed Eklavya came back to the forest. In the forest he made a figure of Dronacharya out of mud with his own hands. He called him his Guru.

Daily he would worship his image of Guru and practice archery. His faith for his Guru in the mud statue made him think about only archery and within a short time he was able to master the art of archery.

Later one day the Kauravas and Paandavas went on a picnic in a forest. They took a dog along with them. The dog entered the forest. He came upon Eklavya who was practicing. The dog started barking and disturbed him. Eklavya sealed his mouth with his seven arrows. Now the dog could not open his mouth. The dog ran away to the place from where he came.

When Dronacharya and the princes saw the dog coming with his mouth full of arrows they could just exclaim in awe.

When Dronacharya found Eklavya practicing archery he asked him - "Did you fill that dog's mouth with arrows?" "Yes"
Dronacharya asked him - "Who are you and where did you learn archery?"
"My name is Eklavya and I am the son of Nishaad Raaj Hiranyadhanu (an army chief in Jaraasandh's army). Please accept my respects, Guru Dev."

Dronacharya got surprised to hear this and said - "But I have never seen you, nor I have ever taught you."

Eklavya said - "Yes, You have not given education to me but I have taken education from you."

He took them where he had established his Guru's statue.

The faith of Eklavya about the mud statue made him the best archer in the world.

If we can create similar faith in our abilities to be the best we can overcome all hindrances. Can we not?

Best regards,

Manoj

POSITIVE THINKING - THE SECRET WEAPONS

Hello,

THE SECRET OF POSITIVE THINKING

Positive thinking has three main weapons: Faith, Gratitude and Back to the wall attitude.

All of us have all three in abundance but we fail to realize the power of our weapons.

The test of the power is in utilizing it properly. Once we start using it correctly we will be victors always.

Sometimes we use it without knowing and then we do not credit them with our victories.

If we analyze our achievements we will realize that it was done through the utilization of these three main weapons.

Once you make your subconscious aware of the power of the weapons you can start using it consciously for higher success.

Faith in your thoughts

When you think positive you have to be like Aladdin and believe that you have the lamp which when rubbed will bring out the genie who will say “Your wish is my command.”

Aladdin and the genie is actually a story about the powers of the subconscious and positive thinking. The story shows how each and every wish of Aladdin gets fulfilled once he starts believing in the lamp. His faith in the powers of the genie, which is actually a metaphor for his subconscious, is so strong that he is able to get what he wants.

As Paul Coelho says in his book ‘The Alchemist’ – “When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Believe that you can achieve your dreams and see them turn into reality.

When I first came to Jaipur, in 1996, we had a flat in Pratapnagar, Sanganer and everyday we took the JLN Marg to our office. When we crossed Malviya Nagar, my wife and I always had the same thought, “We will have a house in Malviya Nagar”. This thought kept coming up and in 2000 when I disclosed this to colleagues; I was ridiculed to be dreaming of something I could not afford. In 2003, I started looking for another house and looked everywhere except Malviya Nagar. Suddenly, an offer came my way and I purchased the plot within a week. The plot was in Malviya Nagar and I now have the beautiful house in Malviya Nagar that I had always wanted.

Gratitude for what you have

It is a simple thing we do every day but forget it at crucial times. Saying ‘Thank you’.

When we want our child to continue with his good behavior we praise his behavior, we encourage him so that he knows that by behaving in a particular way he earns our praise. Our praise, a thank you to the child for behaving well, attracts more good behavior.

We get incentives, bonuses, increments, appreciation for doing well at our jobs. This spurs us to perform better. The thank you from the employer in the form of the bonus, incentive, etc, makes us give him more of what he wants.

Showing gratitude for what you have got and want more of is the best way to attract more of it.

How many times we forget to thank Life for the beautiful past that has been gifted to us. Every time we forget to do so, we loose the opportunity to attract the same beautiful gifts again.

In 2004, money supply became a problem. Low inflows and usual outflows meant that we spent about six months in the negative.

I took advice and I was told to read a shloka that thanks Goddess Lakshmi for her benevolence. Not ask for more, just thank her for what she had given me till then. I started doing the shloka and I was comfortable.

Back to the wall

I am sure every one can think of a moment when they had their backs to the wall. It may not be a precarious position like hanging over a cliff or being caught on the tracks in front of a speeding train but it would be a position where there was only one way out. Have we not chosen the way out to get away from the wall?

Why then wait for our back to be against the wall to look for the opening.

Why not think of every situation to be a back to the wall situation and every time look for the only one opening that is positive.

Let us be aware of the wall so that we can always look for the opening.

In 2000, I had my back against the wall. I somehow managed to incur the wrath of some egoistic seniors, who then took it on themselves to give me a tough time by transferring me out of Jaipur. I never till then had actually tried for a job change. When things really looked tough, I approached a friend and was surprised when, within a month, I had the offer for a new job with a better salary.

I stayed in Jaipur and did well enough to make some of the seniors of my erstwhile employer regret their decision of letting me go.

The reading makes it look too simple. But remember most things in life are simple if you have the intelligence to understand it.

Best wishes with positive thoughts,

Manoj

LESSONS - POSITIVE THINKING - THE ALCHEMIST

Hello,

When I started reading 'The power of your Subconscious Mind' by Dr. Joseph Murphy I felt that it was a wonderful book but tedious as the writer tries to drill in the message.

While reading the book I was strongly reminded of 'The Alchemist' by Paul Coelho.

I took out the book once again and tried to go through the underlined messages. These were the best part of the book according to me, when I first read it and now when I was going through them again I realized how easily he had made us understand the power of the subconscious mind through a simple story of Santiago and his search for the treasure.
I tried to note down the top ten messages from the book. Of course these are my choices for the top ten and you may have your own selection. The messages are scattered around like gems in a treasure trove and I now strongly believe that if one goes through their own top ten from 'The Achemist' nothing in the world can stop them from achieving their goals.

THE TOP TEN:

• 
  
  Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth. And when you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
  

This people who saw "Om Shanti Om' will remember as Shah Rukh Khan's appealing dialogue "Kisi cheez ko agar puri dil se chaho, toh saari kayanat use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai."

• 
  
  We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it's doing to help us.


• 
  
  No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.


• 
  
  When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.


• 
  
  “Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”


• 
  
  There is only one way to learn. It's through action.


• 
  
  "You came so that you could learn about your dreams," said the old woman. "And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand."


• 
  
  Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.


• 
  
  "But, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald."and finally my current favorite


• 
  
  The world's greatest lie: At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate.

If you have read 'The Alchemist' long time ago I would persuade you to go through it again.

"Maktub" - it's written.
Your dreams are yours to achieve and although the journey may be tough, there will be sacrifices to make, choices to be made, distractions to be ignored, price to be paid, but at the end, if you remain faithful to your dream, victory will always be your charming bride.

Read 'The Alchemist' and you will have lessons on life. The book originally sold only 900 prints and the publisher refused to reprint. Later it sold 65 million copies.

Keep it by your bedside and read it whenever this happens "At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate." and you will know how to fight the greatest lie on earth.

Best regards,
Manoj

POSITIVE THINKING & LUCK

Hello,

This is an old article which has been in circulation for some time.

Richard Wiseman, who teaches at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK has written 'The Luck Factor' – a best selling book exploring the lives and minds of lucky people. His latest book, Quirkology, explores the curious science of everyday life, including the psychology of lying, love, and laughter.

In an article written for The Times of India he explained a few concepts about luck and reasons that make people lucky.

The article is reproduced below

________________________________________________

Why Some People Have All the Luck

By Richard Wiseman/ Source: Times of India

I set out to examine luck, 10 years ago. Why are some people always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune? I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, have been interviewed by me. I have monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.

The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune.

Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: 'Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50'. This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it. Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected. As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

The 4 Principles of Generating Good Fortune

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles.

• 
  
  They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities,


• 
  
  make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition,


• 
  
  create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and


• 
  
  adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

I wondered towards the end of the work, whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

4 Tips for Becoming Lucky

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, I had found the elusive 'luck factor'. Here are four top tips for becoming lucky:

1) Listen to your gut instincts -- they are normally right.

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.

4) Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.Have a Lucky day and work for it.

The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.

____________________________

When you read the above article you will notice that the research of Professor Wiseman clearly indicates that it is the attitude that is responsible for your situation. Think positive and see positive events happen in your life.

Best regards,

Manoj

POSITIVE THINKING - REGAINING FAITH

Regaining Faith,

Further to my post 'Loosing faith' about loosing trust on God, I am happy to say that my friend has not lost faith as apprehended.

She took help from the Koran and her faith has strengthened. Yesterday I talked to her again and she told me that took help of two thoughts to get over her feeling of helplessness.

She mentioned the first one as a verse from Koran which says "Do not get Angry, Do not Get Angry, Do not get Angry."

She said that most of her feelings about her helplessness stemmed from her anger and when she started trying to get control over her anger, her helplessness started appearing surmountable.

The second help she got from some Islamic preaching that says that human life is like a circle made up of 24 parts. Some person may have the parts equally divided and some may have one bigger than the rest, but all in all the 24 parts will finally always add up to one complete circle.

So one person can have a bigger part for riches or for career success or for family happiness but then if these parts are bigger obviously some part has to compensate. If life is such a balance, then why crib.

She stopped cribbing and concentrated on her physiotherapy. She is now feeling better, her husband came back on the first day of Ramadan and they are spending time together and although her sister is still fighting her battle with Cancer, she is more peaceful now.

God, as usual, passed his test.

Best regards,

Manoj