"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.”
"What the mind profoundly expects it tends to receive.”
"When things do not go your way, remember that every challenge — every adversity — contains within it the seeds of opportunity and growth.” - all quotes from The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
Recently I was having a bad day. I was dealing with a situation outside of my control which was causing a lot of apprehension. While driving down the road, I found myself mindlessly rubbing a button on my steering wheel. I realized that I did this quite often while driving. The action seemed to offer a degree of comfort. This was the first time I noticed that the button said “OK".
For my particular car make and model the “OK" button is pressed to dismiss warning alerts and to access and select further options. If you “long press” it, you can reset. In essence, press the button to say "I'm okay with that". Wouldn’t that be something if pressing the OK button in my car would magically make me feel okay like rubbing a magic lantern? What if it was that easy? What if I sinply entertained the idea that such a thing was possible. Could it affect my day positively. I supposed it might.
I am someone who loves the idea of the power of positive thinking. On my bedside table, you will find Norman Vincent Peale’s book by that exact title: The Power of Positive Thinking. My journal is titled “Think Happy Thoughts”. Does it work? I don’t know.
What I do know is that optimism tends to make me expect good outcomes and act differently with the goal of achieving them. I do know that on days where I apply all of my positive thinking tools, I experience greater happiness and more hope. So I guess I’ll continue applying Mr. Peale’s principles, and every once in a while I’m going to press that OK button in my car and see what happens.
- Arianne
Purveyor of Positivity
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