Renewing the Power of Positive Thinking
November 22, 2020 by MarkHaroldsen
Filed under blog
Some time ago, I picked up an old book from1987 called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers. In it she talks about a physical demonstration that she does at some of her seminars that I found very impressive. It shows just how powerful our thoughts can be.
What she did was get a volunteer out of her audience and have them hold their arms straight out to the side. She would tell the volunteer to resist with all their strength as she attempted to push down on their arms. In the book she notes that she has not once been able to push down a volunteer’s arms on the initial try.
Then she would then tell the volunteer to say, ten times, “I am a weak and unworthy person,†instructing them to really feel the statement as they say it. After they did that, she would try to push down their arms again and, this time, she would be able to push both arms down.
To further drive home her point, she would ask the person to repeat, ten times, the positive statement, “I am a strong and worthy person.†This time she would not be able to budge their arms, maybe even less so than during the initial effort she made when they first stood up.
I took this to heart and, just before heading out to play in a round robin tennis tourney, I repeated to myself, many times over (even though I felt kind of childish doing it), â€I am a very strong tennis player and I am very worthy of winning.†I also repeated, “I am younger and more fit now than I was a year ago.†Wow, did that ever work! I played 4 rounds of tennis winning each round by a very wide margin!
Even though most of what Jeffers had to say was stuff I already knew, I was just not doing it anymore. It was like a rebirth doing it again and, wow, did it feel good. And here I am, many years later, needing the reminder again.
We can all use a little helpful nudge to get us back on track now and again. So, this week, I’ve been thinking about that and about the statements I could say to help increase my performance in everything I’m doing.
The power of positive thinking is pretty amazing. Especially when you remember to use it! What kind of positive statements could you use in your life? Come up with a few, use them, and see if it doesn’t make a world of difference.
Thanks Mark! Just ordered this book. Nothing like simple, powerful and actionable ideas!