My change from negativity to a PMA

So I downloaded The Secret app on my iPhone. For those of you who haven't heard of The Secret, it's a book which has gained thousands of followers since it was published. This book basically teaches you to think positively, and that what you think, you get. It's full of positive reinforcement, tips on how to combat negative thoughts, and teaches you that you attract what you focus on. So, this new app, based on the book, gives me a daily piece of wisdom... and it got me thinking...is it all about how you perceive things, or is there actually some mysterious force that is giving you what you ask for?

People may be sceptical about the law of attraction. Some think it's all a load of mystical rubbish, others think it's just wealthy people boasting about how they "thought" themselves to millions. But, if you really think about it, regardless of whether you believe "the universe is listening to what you want", positive thinking can definitely have an impact on your life. 

Consider this. People who are having a tough time tend to complain about it. We all know one of those people, maybe at work or maybe a friend, who will moan about how their lives are so difficult and how they're so miserable. If you know someone like this, chances are that although they complain, they never look to the positives or seriously consider change. They'll endlessly bend your ear about how they're under-valued at work and under paid, but they won't consider the fact that they're lucky to have a job in such difficult times, or focus on what they could pro-actively do to change the situation. Someone in the same situation, who has a positive mental attitude (PMA) will still hate their job and have no money, but instead of spending their energy on moaning about it and thinking about how miserable they are (and therefore arguably sending negative vibes out which will only attract more of the same, as well as irritating the people around them), will constantly think about how to improve the situation. They'll think about how grateful they are that things aren't worse, and will have the drive and passion to make things better. The vibes they emit will be heavily weighted to "I'm going to get a new job with more money and things are going to get better", and so that's what they attract.

The same theory applies to your physical being. When people are stressed, fed up and angry, they get sick. I genuinely believe that if you focus your entire being on being resentful, jealous, angry and upset, these negative thoughts will manifest themselves in your physical being. The Secret teaches you to not only think positive thoughts about yourself and your health, but to also think positive thoughts about other people when they are ill. This is a whole other can of worms I could blog about though, going into spiritual healing, energies and so on, so I'll stop there!

Anyway, some of you reading this post are probably thinking "what a load of crap! Why have you got suckered into this rubbish?". Well, I guess it's from first hand experience. You could argue that I have just gotten wiser as I've gotten older, and that my angsty teens are behind me, and there'd probably be some truth in that, but I don't think that's all of it. My early twenties was spent being an extremely negative, angry, hurt and upset person. Every time something bad happened to me, I'd complain "why is it always me". I had to move home several times, went through numerous (*ahem* not THAT many) boyfriends, was constantly ill, once seriously, never had any money and lost friends along the way. What I hadn't realised was that the laundry list of bad things happening to me were from my own doing. Friends distanced themselves from me, I suspect, because all I did was complain. Who wants to live with someone who cries all the time and is emotionally draining? Each time something bad happened (or something I perceived to be bad) I focussed on it too much, going on and on about it to others, dwelling on it and therefore making my entire being solely about that negative situation... which then drew more of the same in to my life. When a landlord decided to sell their flat, and I had to move, I didn't see it as an opportunity to possibly move somewhere cheaper, or nicer, or a chance to meet new friends to live with. Instead I'd go into a pit of despair, complaining that I'd have to spend so much time looking for a new place, stressing myself out and making myself miserable. I complained about work, but never seriously considered either approaching my manager about it or looking for a new job, and didn't realise that perhaps my negative attitude was preventing me from getting ahead. 

So what changed? Well, an ex-boyfriend took me to a property development seminar and the speaker spoke more about the law of attraction than how to invest. He talked about how these property millionaires have all always known they will become rich, and because they believed it, they received it. And it got me thinking. It made me reflect on how I thought about my life, how I reacted to situations and what kind of energy I radiated. And so I changed. And quite shortly after I adjusted how I viewed my life and how I thought about things, I've had several promotions, I met the love of my life, I've gotten married, I bought a house, my health has improved.... and I'm a LOT happier. Happier than I have ever been. I try to think of one thing to be grateful about a day. I treat each potentially negative situation as a challenge and something to put a positive spin on, and I LIVE by the line "every cloud has a silver lining". Because genuinely, every cloud does. It just depends if you allow yourself to see it or not.