Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power -Shirley MacLaine

If you are journeying into the world of self-help you have most definitely heard about the power of positive thinking. Such a brilliant concept, but one that can be quite difficult to conceptualize.

If it were that simple, wouldn’t we all do it? Just think positive thoughts and everything will get better. No wonder so many outsiders call this world the land of snake oil sales.

Well, here I am just another snake oil salesman telling you it works. Plain and simple. Think more positively and more positive things will happen in your life. But it’s not just going to happen immediately. That’s where it gets discouraging. Let’s get into an example.

If you are struggling financially, your thoughts are likely flooded with negative outlooks on losing your house, getting behind on your bills and wondering how you’re going to afford presents for your children on the holidays. So you decide to think more positively, and you start thinking thoughts like “the money is coming,” “I am going to get promoted” and “the tree will be filled underneath.” Bam! All your problems are solved!

Well, maybe for a day or two you practice positive thinking, but then an unexpected bill shows up in the mail and you are back to square one.

You’re thinking, gee Trin, what brilliance you just bestowed upon me, thank you for your incredible guidance.

Hmm, well that’s an awfully negative outlook on what I am trying to say.

Positive thinking is a consistent practice that takes place over the course of years and years. To this day, I still catch myself thinking negatively, but I have practiced enough to know how to fight those off and replace them with positive thoughts.

This is why you need to clean out the closet in your mind. I love the analogy because I can see the closet I am cleaning. The imagery brings this process to life. You know the closets I am speaking of, the ones that have clothes upon clothes piled up, some that you don’t even wear anymore. It’s just a mess. Every time you look at it, it causes some physical pain akin to stubbing your damn toe.

So what do you do? Do you keep piling up the clothes or do you organize them? Let’s get rid of the stuff we don’t wear and take it to goodwill. Let’s sort items out by colour or by apparel.

It’s the same thing with our minds. How many negative thoughts make you feel better? How much information in your head do you need to pay attention to?

I’ll give you a personal example. I am a die hard Edmonton Oilers fan. The other night, I watched the Oilers lose 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild. Not a big deal, every team wins some and loses some, but this loss hurt more. You wanna know why? The goalie for the Wild was Jesper Wallstedt, a goalie the Oilers could’ve drafted, but instead traded down in the draft to gain an additional draft pick. Minnesota selected him, and the picks the Oilers got turned into Xavier Bourgault and Luca Muenzenberger.

Wallstedt is exactly what the Oilers need right now, a bonadifde number one goaltender, while Bourgault and Muezenberger have yet to play in the NHL. At the time of the draft, I, along with many other Oiler fans, were screaming at our management to take the goalie.

This just reminded me of the many decision my hockey team has made that I didn’t agree with. In fact, I truly believe if management went with fan consensus over their own decision making we would have won a Stanley Cup by now. I was scrolling through X (formerly Twitter) reading post after post and getting so angry.

Then it hit me. Why am I so upset over something I cannot control? I am losing hours of sleep doomscrolling on this stupid app. I took stock at all of the hours I was wasting arguing and complaining about sports, and politics, and religion, and current events.

So I asked myself a simple question…why do I even have this social media app? What good has it done for me? The answer was something I already knew, so without thinking about it again, I deleted my account. Sorry Elon, but I don’t need this negativity in my life.

Throughout my self-help journey I have done this exercise hundreds of times. It comes down to a few simple questions.

1. Does this contribute to me becoming a better person?
2. Do I get more positive or negative energy because of this?
3. How much of an impact will this have if I don’t engage with it?
4. Is there something else I could be doing with this time spent?

If you’re reading this, think about something in your life that is bringing you down. Ask yourself those four questions. You should be able to confidently identify your next move.

Cleaning out the closet in your mind will help you organize your positive and negative energies, and down the road, you will notice you are happier. Happy begets happiness.

You will not get in better shape if you keep the negative thought in your head telling you that you will never lose weight. You will get in better shape if you keep telling yourself that you are gonna lose the weight. The positive reinforcement helps create action.

There’s an old Native American proverb that states “There are two wolves fighting inside of us. One is evil, which is anger, jealousy, greed, and hate. The other is good, which is joy, peace, love, and hope. Which one wins? The one you feed.”

I like to think of one wolf being your positive side and the other being your negative side. So when I say the power of positive thinking works, the proof is in the pudding. Eat it up y’all. Inject that snake oil right into your veins!!!