Beginner’s Intensive for Positive Thinking

1. As you begin to awaken, turn on your MP3 and listen to one side of the tape that you have chosen the night before. Most of the inspirational messages last 20-30 minutes. Lie with your eyes closed and let the soothing, loving messages sink in. You have to admit this certainly beats lying there thinking about how you don’t want to get up and face all the ‘lousy’ things you have to do all day.
2. As you get out of bed, pay attention to the positive quotes you’ve surrounded yourself with-on the wall, your bed table, your mirror, and so on. You might want to chuckle a bit at what it takes for the human race to make itself feel good.
3. Put some calming music into your MP3 player. Some suggested tapes are listed in the back of the book.
4. As you dress, with the mnusic in the background, begin to repeat the affirmations you have chosen for the day. One of the best places to repeat your affirmations is in front of the mirror. Repeat your affirmation or affirmations for at least ten minutes. As you are dressing, your negative voice will try to being its chatter routine. It requires vigilance to notice it’s there. It sneaks in so quietly. As soon as you are aware of it, begin replacing this negativity with your affirmations. Don’t let the little voice take over. Outtalk your Chatterbox! I promise you that with practice that negative voice will be the rarity and the positive voice the norm. Just believe that constant repetition will do the trick eventually.
   
   NOTE: In the beginning, it’s important that you do not turn on the television or radio and listen to eh news, if that is your habit. The presentation is overwhelmingly negative. For the time being, let your chosen positive voice be the only news that you hear as you prepare for the happenings of the day. If it is your habit to read the newspaper as you eat breakfast, avoid the horror stories on the front pages , and concentrate on the encouraging aticles, or read one of your self-help books.
   
   While teaching a fear class in New York, as an experiment I instructed my students to stay away from the news entirely. They were surprised at the positive difference it made in their lives. Instead of talking with friends about how miserable the world situation was, they began sharing the positive ideas learned from self-help books, and their conversations became more animated and exciting.
   
   Once you’ve acquired the positive thinking habit, you can resume reading the entire paper and listening to the news. You may find you have developed a more constructive approach to the media, seeing in ‘bad news’ opportunities to being taking responsibility for yourself and your community. I advise you, however, not to make the news the start or end of your day. Somewhere in between will do, when you have time to outtalk any negative feelings that have accrued.
5. If you exercise daily, that is an opportune time to pump in your positive thinking. Affirations such as, ‘I can feel the energy coursing through my body’ and ‘Every day I am getting stronger and stronger’ will make your exercise routine far more effective.
6. Breakfast is over and it is now time to get yourself to work. If you drive, you are lucky. I live in Los Angeles and I often hear people lamenting about the time they have to spend in their automobiles. Not me! I have made my car my ‘temple of learning’ and I can ‘t wait to get into it. As soon as I turn on the motor, I turn on one of my tapes. I listen to either motivational or inspirational messages or stirring music, such as the movie score for Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Rocky or Chariots of Fire. This is time that some people see as wasted and I see as immensely productive. Without my car trip, I lose out on a lot of listening time.
   
   NOTE: DO not use your relaxation or meditation tapes in the car, for obvious reasons.
   
   Although some people who walk to work use a Walkman, I do not suggest this, because the volume has to be turned up too high, to compensate for the noise of the traffic. This is not great for your hearing! But if you are walking on quiet streets, then it is not a problem, but an opportunity to pump in good thoughts instead of destructive ones.
   
   If you work in your home, you are in luck, because you can play your positive messages all day as you do your chores and run errands. And if you have small children at home, think about the positive impact these will have on their young and impressionable minds.
7. As you walk into your office, be aware of the positive messages you have already placed there. Again, chuckle to yourself. It helps you to lighten up about everything!
8. Open up your dairy and write your daily affirmations. Every time you refer to your dairy, say the affirmation over and over again. You might want to write them on some cards as well, to place on your desk or in your wallet or any place where you will be forced to see them.
9. Unless you are a total masochist, you will want to maintain the high energy and fearless state you plugged into with your early-morning ritual. As daily pressures and doubts begin to seep in, simply give yourself a ‘fix’ of positive energy. All you have to do is repeat your affirmations over and over again until you feel your strength and optimism return. Your Chatterbox will also be trying to enter your consciousness all day; remember to outtalk it. Keep these positive fixes going day and night.
10. Before you go to sleep, put a relaxing tape into your recorder and let in the soothing messages. There are tapes available that guide you through a visualization that helps you acknowledge all the wonderful things you did all day and lets you feel that it’s okay if you didn’t get around to everything you wanted to fo. It’s wonderful to go to bed loving yourself. These ‘caring’ tapes serve you much better than your Chatterbox, which tries to convince you that you’re imperfect. Drift off to blissful sleep with the recorderplaying. Most recorders switch off automatically when the tape ends.
    
    Please believe me when I tell you that if you commit yourself to such a program your whole world will turn around. Positive thinking changes everything in your life. Without your negative Chatterbox, you will wonder what you were always so afraid of before. You will have energy you never thought possible. You will laugh a lot more and love al lot more. You will draw more and more positive people into your life. You will be healthier physically. You will be happy to be alive.
    
    In a short period of time (you’ll know when you are ready), you can ease up a bit and begin a maintenance program. Give yourself at least one month, however, before you cut back. If on some days you were not as diligent as you would have liked don’t let your Chatterbox scold you. I can just hear it in there saying, ‘See, you can’t even follow a simple program like this. You’ll never feel good. You’re hopeless.’ Just keep remembering that its only your Chatterbox speaking, and you can outtalk it. ‘I’m doing it all perfectly!’ is a wonderful affirmation when the Chatterbox tries to tell you you’ve goofed.
    
    I can’t stress enough that positive thinking needs daily practice. I've been practicing it for years and still spend some time each day focusing on the elimination of negativity from my thinking. If I stop completely, as I have on occasion, I know my good feelings will slowly deminish. Thank goodness, it is easy to get into the swing of it again simply by following the program. I always ask myself then, 'Why do I stop doing something that makes me feel so good?!'
    
    One more thought about positive thinking: It is important that you don't use it as an excuse for denial. We beginto feel so good that it's tempting to not let in any of the doom and gloom that exists in the world. Remember: POSISTIVE THINKING IN ITS MOST CONSTRUCTIVE FORM DOES NOT DENY THE PAIN AND SUFFERING THAT EXIST IN THIS WORLD.
    
    There are many issues that need handling. To deny that they exist is folloy. Starvation exists, Racism exists. Threat of nuclear war exists. Environmental waste that threatens the planet exists. There are many other problems. We all need to be involved!. And we have to approach our involvement with the positiveness that something something can be done, even if the answer is not readily seen. Denial creates inactivity... and so does hopelessness.
    
    No one is immune to pain, and it shouldn't be denied when it exists. The key is to know that you can lead a productive and meaningful life no matter what the external circumstances are. What positive thinking does is offer a power boost to help you handle whatever life gives you. Your 'bad breaks' do not dominate your life; your indomitable strenght does. And when you feel that indomitable strenght, you really can handle any of your fears from a position of power-the kind of power that really can make things happen.