Short version:
I made a new years resolution to try "positive thinking" and my life has become what I was visualizing every day in less than a year. A lot of strange coincidences happened, and Im posting this to try to convince you guys to buy into this chit so we can all make it. Watch something motivational every morning, take some time to visualize what kind of life you want, and try to feel like you're already living it. It helps you stay on track and make decisions based on the larger goal.






Wall of text version:

My mom goes on and on about the secret and the law of attraction and all that chit, but I've always thought it was stupid. I used to worry a lot and tended to expect the worst when things happened. I was pretty unhappy most of the time and my luck seemed to be terrible. Whenever I paid off something, a new random bill came in the mail. I hated my job, had no idea what I was gonna do with my life, I was lonely, and was anxious all the time. So I set a new years resolution last year to commit to maintaining a positive mindset.

Journal entry from December 31st 2015:

"Why is everything going to ****? What have I done to cause this? I mean, it must me my fault right? We control our lives right? I lift, I hit my macros, I read, I go to work, I'm nice to people, I dont spend money for no reason, yet here I am doing nothing on new years eve broke as **** feeling like ****. I dont get it. I even meditate why the hell do I feel like this all the time? Mom says I'm too negative and I'm gonna be miserable my whole life with this mindset. But she buys into the secret bull****. How is visualizing good things happening gonna change anything??? Makes no sense. IDK a lot of people buy into that ****. Maybe there is something to it. **** it, I dont have anything to believe in, why not just buy into this ****. If anything, it'll probably make me feel better. Ok so whats wrong with my life?
-I'm lonely
-I'm broke
-I have no idea what Im doing with my life
-I want to start some sort of business but I have no fukn clue what to do.
-I need to get my own place
-I need to get school back on track.
-I got laid two times all year.
-I barely see my friends
-I never meet people
-I'm anxious all the time
-My room and car are a mess
-I'm late to everything

Ok so approaching this from the positive visualization way, what do I want?
-Great gf or fun fukbuddies. Prolly not a gf, idk if I want that.
-Pay off debt
-Some sort of direction in life
-My own business/ some independent source of income
-Start going out more
-Chill da **** out.
-Get to places on time

Aright **** it, heres to 2016, year of delusional positivity".


Today
-ZERO DEBT
-Run a business
-Transferred out of Community college!
-amazing girlfriend
-Great group of friends, great social life
-Very rarely nervous or worried.
-Much closer to my family.



What I did

-Every single morning I watched some sort of motivational or uplifting video
-Listened to a lot of podcasts
-Read 49 books directly related to mindset, business, or other topics that interest me
-Glanced at a note in my iphone with quotes or reminders a few times a day

-10 minute worry journal. If something was bothering me, I set a 10 minute timer and wrote out what the issue was, what I could do to fix it, what I cant change, and why it upset me. When the timer went off, I forced it out of my mind. Every single problem I've had this year has had a simple action to take or habit to form, or was not worth worrying about.

-reminders went off on my phone every few hours that said "stay the course".

-Every night before bed, I'd review my day, and re-write a description of my life as I want it to be in the present tense. Usually left me feeling grateful and fired up.

-Whenever something struck my attention, I followed it.

-Whenever I thought I should work on something, I committed to it. Stupid example, I cant draw or write legibly. So at least once a day I'd start doodling, trying to draw perfect shapes and write the alphabet out as well as I could in print and in cursive. I used to be basically fluent in spanish, but I lost some of it. At work I started helping spanish speaking customers and my phone is in spanish. I read spanish wikipedia pages when I look chit up, and I'm pretty close to fluent again.




Coincidences

Two different times this year I got an unexpected bill I couldnt afford at the time in the mail. Instead of stressing, I put it in my folder and said "It'll work out one way or another". BOTH TIMES I got an unexpected check in the mail. One was a class action lawsuit from an old job I quit two years ago. Apparently they broke labor laws that year. That check was $32 more than the unexpected bill. The other time I got reimbursed for a membership I was never able to use. I meant to cancel, I guess I didnt, got billed for two years, and sent an email saying "hey, I meant to cancel this like two years ago, didnt realize I was still being billed. I guess I should pay more attention to my finances. Anyway, I cancelled through the website but just wanted to make sure the cancellation went through. Thanks". ~6 months later I got a check in the mail for the full amount of my two years of membership, which came out to something like $100 more than a medical bill that I wasnt expecting.


I was driving in my city, ran into a friend who had just come back from college. She yelled out to me: "HEYYYY PARK SOMEWHERE IM HAVING A GRAD PARTY!!" I parked, said hi, walked in to a family function. I get in line for the taco stand right behind this HBB. Happened to know her sister, we clicked immediately and talked most of the day. She left, I didnt get her number or anything. Literally the next day I stopped by a mall that I never go to to get my friend a birthday present, and she was in the store. Got her number, and for the last 6 months she has been the perfect girlfriend, there is nothing I dont like about her.

-Found a need in a market and decided to try to fill it. Posted that i was looking for an artist, within 5 minutes got a response. Saw some of his artwork and loved it. Crazy coincidence, this fukn guys hobby is the same as mine and he has big connections in the industry. He showed a sample to his friend, a very well known guy in the industry. The guy pre-ordered 50 units. 50 units per month was my one year goal. I was aiming to hit that by November 2017, but January 2017 is already set with 53 pre-orders.

i could go on and on, I kinda already have.



I cant believe how this year has been for me. 2016 has been the greatest year of my life so far, and the only thing I changed was deciding to buy into the law of attraction. I dont think theres some mystical force that attracts what you think about, I think its a psychological thing that helps you make better decisions and live every moment with the big picture in mind. It seems like you can look at the life you visualize everyday and compare your current behavior with that as the final goal. Whenever you're faced with a decision, you can choose based on what will bring you closer to that life.



As requested: Book list. Read all of em, 49 were from this year.



http://imgur.com/a/Mjp3t

This is motivating. I just think positive thinking, reflecting on your life and what you would like to change in it, and making decisions with your future in mind will help you be a better person. I've had a good year on paper with tons of memories but I feel empty inside so I'm going to try to start keeping a positive attitude bc I've noticed a trend where I get caught up in my negative thoughts to where it's borderline paranoia

good thread. This past year I have gotten into the habbit of negative thinking and it has really screwed me up. I have been getting better, your advice is great and I am going to start taking more action

Damn brah I have those thoughts you had before you turned it around during 2016. I hope to do what you did and turn my life around in 2017.

I'm broke, got fired from job 4 months ago, no degree, going back to school & don't know what I want to do, and I live at home at 28. Tired of the loser mindset and lifestyle.

Had gf's in the past and my recent ex of 4 years is now a property manager making over 100k a year and is engaged. Three years ago I was the one supporting her when she was in school and I had a full time job. Feels bad man

How long did it take you to turn it around? And what hobbies did you have? My hobbies are only lifting and playing the PS4/watching movies which I have to ditch soon.

is this helping buddy?

Teach me. Positive thinking is one thing that I can not consistently do.

Das it mane, the power of positivity is vastly underrated.

And get rid of the negative people in your life and your life will significantly improve.

Neville Goddard/

I told u so

Sometimes I fear that positive thinking will make me more naive and weaker, don't you guys get that sometimes ?

I am extremely cynical and negative. However, I am extremely successful.

there's a pretty good quote that pretty much says, if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. those who think they can will achieve if they truly, truly believe in it.

now obviously you can't go fly as a human, but for most things in life, it all starts at step 1 – believing in yourself.

Will it help my biceps grow?

Repped. Know that you typed all that out for a reason man, read all of it and will begin tomorrow.

Good post brah. I've been more positive lately as well, and so far over the past month or so I've been seeing benefits. Going to keep going and evolving.

Hard to put a time on it. It took maybe a month to find habits that kept me in the right mindset, my general emotional state improved almost immediately. It all comes down to managing your state moment to moment. My hobbies now: Jiu jitsu, muay thai, watching all combat sports, graphic design, reading, chillin in nature, writing, lifting, cooking. Why do you have to ditch movies and video games? Theres no reason they cant be a part of a nice life. That being said, since I started living this way I hardly ever watch fiction or play video games. There are too many exciting things I'd rather do.



Its really not that hard.
1. Decide to look on the bright side of all things
2. See every difficulty as a challenge you can win.
3. Visualize the life you want
4. Take the time to get inspired from a song, video, or book. Whatever works for you.
5. Tackle problems head on using the 10 minute journal.
6. Spend some time in silence/meditation everyday.

Everything else kinda falls into place

Ya know, all the "negative" people in my life seem to be good people dealing with their own ****. I rarely feel negativity from people. The few people who are truly negative I have zero communication with. I literally ignore my negative co-workers and family members. And when someone comes at me in a negative or aggressive way, I always say "woahhhh there start over." People react surprisingly well to this and will often times start the conversation over with a "hey, hows it goin".


Well, ignoring problems is a naive way of being positive. Its not about ignoring facts, its about reframing them so you can better tackle them or make sense of them. My girlfriend is amazing and I think I could marry this one. That being said, I know its early in the relationship and things can change. Im aware that she could decide to leave me or cheat on me or we might drift apart. But there is no sense in dwelling on that, or expecting that to be the outcome. I recognize the reality of the situation but I choose to live in sort of a fantasy. Most of what we experience is based on our perception, there is very little objective truth in life. I choose to perceive things with rose tinted lenses, that doesnt make me naive to the possibilities. If my relationship crumbles I will be perfectly fine, I dont need to expect it to be able to handle it.


No matter what I accomplish in life, if I spend my life being cynical and negative I will not have met my criteria for success. I am currently successful, regardless of my material possessions and career accomplishments. I am learning every day, I feel connected to people around me, I'm spending my time doing things I love to do, and I'm healthy. I'm successful because I know what my values are and I act according to them, every day.

Either we have very different definitions of success or very different experiences with being cynical and negative.


fuk ya, PM me if you start to slip a lil bit. It takes time and effort to build the habit.

Definitely. If you know why you want bigger biceps, if you know exactly how big you want them to be, and you visualize it daily, you will take the actions necessary to grow bigger biceps. Your nutrition will be on point, you will put more deliberate effort into training your biceps. I mean we all know that bigger muscles come from nutrition, more volume, and progressive overload. If you have that in your minds eye everyday, you will act. Its not that mystical. I think will power is a limited resource, so focusing on being disciplined might not be the most effective way to achieve a goal. Will power is the ability to resist an impulse. If your impulse says "dont do another set im tired", or "dont cook, order some pizza and kick it", you can only ignore that for so long. But if youre excited and focused and fired up about growing dem biceps, the impulses change. You will feel the impulse to train and cook, will power is no longer required. Its a much more sustainable way to achieve something.

Now this is the old Misc I recognize

Saved

Repped OP brah

How to think positively when everything around you are negative things?

Things are not negative, things are just things. You attach negativity to them. Reframe how you see things and change your situation. What do you mean everything around you is negative? Specifically, what is negative?

The hard part is sticking to it especially after a little success.

Which is why the habits and focusing on moment to moment state management is everything.

In and repped

Thanks for making the post OP, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I could swear things used to work out so much more favorably when I was younger and had a more 'go with the flow & think positive' attitude vs the forceful bitter way that I've lived my life the past few years. I always just assumed that I was insanely lucky growing up that everything seemed to work out, meanwhile I can remember several occasions in the last year alone that I've had absolutely miserable luck and how I've fixated on that fact that everything always goes wrong for me.

Honestly, I've watched myself grow into a bitter, lonely, hateful and arrogant guy in the last couple of years and I hate it. I guess I'll dedicate myself to your method for the next year and see what happens.

My current favorite is

"Your thoughts are the dye you soak your mind in"

Not really poetic but if I could remember one thing, that would be it.

Memory is weirdly inaccurate, and its affected by the emotion youre feeling at the time. When you're feeling lonely, it seems like you never have friends to do things with and its been like this for years. After a couple weeks of going out gets you out of the rut, it seems like you have friends and its been like this for years. What you fixate on seems to have an effect on self-reflection.

Please do it, and stick to it. I've listened to a lot of interviews with people I consider successful, and every single one of them states their ability to maintain a positive mindset through hardship as the thing that separates them from the people who fail. Sticking to this could literally be the most important factor in life.

inspriring thread op - a really nice contrast to the ****ty fa threads you read every day on the misc.

did you read siddharta from hermann hesse by any chance?

Right before I made this account, I obviously liked it. Also during the phase of every new local rapper going by "yung_something".

Been trying to do this myself recently. After too much repetitive misery I need to make a change, and the line/mantra that got to me once was 'the optimists are right'.

Which they are when I start to think about it. It's like the Henry Ford quote, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.