The Power Of Negative Thinking

Soldiers who have been held as POW’s personally know what it means to be held captive. This involves the enemy taking control of you, leaving you in a powerless position. Sometimes soldiers have been held captive in these conditions for many years. As serious as a situation it is for a solider in war to be held captive by the enemy, there is another type of captive situation that is more of a threat to our personal lives.

The kind of situation I want us to ponder concerns our thinking, and specifically, negative thinking. In my life I have had the occasion to come in contact with people who were “experts” in being negative. In fact, it is accurate to describe such people as being held captive by a negative attitude. Instantly, there were always ready and even anxious to tell you what is wrong with something or to offer words of complaint. In a way I feel sorry for these people because they never seem to be able to relax and enjoy life. They spend their days always expecting the worst to happen.

A person’s attitude is the result of choices they have made. Individually, we are neither in charge of or responsible for anyone’s attitude but our own. Therefore, we are faced with choices each day. How will you and I respond to what will come to us in life? As we consider our attitude in daily life, I want us to be reminded of the power of negative thinking. Negative thinking has the power to remove bit by bit the excitement and enjoyment from our lives. Also, the person who lives life with a negative attitude spreads the influence of this mood into the lives of the people with whom they come in contact.

But there is a better way for us to live our lives. We can choose to live our lives on the higher and nobler plane of optimism. To be sure, this does not mean that we become blind to reality. Some things in life are difficult. But to choose an attitude of optimism for our lives means that we refuse to be held captive by the difficulties and discouragements of life. The reason is that we are able to look ahead, and know that each new day brings the possibility of many good things.

The often-used illustration that compares the difference between a positive and negative person is by the glass that is half-filled with water. The optimist will describe this glass as being half-full, while the negative person will describe this glass as half-empty. The power of negative thinking in a person’s life will even cause them to say that the half-empty glass will probably soon be broken, thus spilling the glass of water. And on and on the cycle of being negative holds a person’s life captive.

Decide today that you will strive to look for the positive and good things in life as your emphasis. Be strong in the face of discouragement and difficulties. The result will be that you will be equipped to rise above negative thoughts that come into your life.