Read Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind for Free Online

your dreams.

    All these people, and thousands of others throughout history, had a “flat-world mentality.” They were convinced certain things could not be done—even though no one had ever tried. I am sure Christopher Columbus, the Wright brothers, and Henry Ford had to be determined to maintain their positive, can-do attitudes. Even though they were surrounded with negativity, they stayed positive and eventually found success. I wonder how much more they might have accomplished had they simply been surrounded with positive encouragement instead of ridicule? There is no telling!
    Don’t let someone else’s limited thinking limit you. Negativity can be contagious; you have to pay attention if you don’t want to catch it! Even if you are the only positive person in your family, your social circles, or your work group, be the one with an optimistic attitude and outlook in every situation.
    Remember, negative attitudes produce negative responses while positive attitudes encourage positive responses. In the story about Joshua and Caleb, this was certainly true. After the ten spies gave their negative report, the Israelites wept all night and became terribly discouraged (see Numbers 14:1). Those ten men and their bad attitudes caused an entire nation to lose heart and doubt God’s promises.
    Then, the Israelites became so negative that they wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb, who were positive (see Numbers 14:10). Similarly, the enemy, often working through other people, likes to silence people with faith-filled, can-do attitudes. Don’t let anyone silence you. Learn to get positive and stay positive in every way.
    A soldier was assigned to stand at the end of the chow line and offer apricots to everyone who passed through the line. He decided to test the theory that the way people ask questions impacts the answers they receive. To the first hundred men who came by him, he said, “You don’t want any apricots, do you?” Ninety percent of them said no. To the next hundred men, he said, “Would you like some apricots?” Fifty percent said yes; 50 percent said no. He changed his strategy slightly for the next hundred men, asking them, “Would you like one serving of apricots or two?” Forty percent took two servings and 50 percent took one. By simply changing the way he asked the soldiers about the apricots, he saw a complete turnaround in the percentage of men who took apricots!
    Take a lesson from the soldier. Learn to be aware of the way you think and the way you talk to people. Train your mind to think positively toward every situation and train your tongue to speak positively to everyone you meet.

    Think about It
    Can you remember an occasion when your negative attitude provoked a negative response? How could you have been more positive in that situation?
     
     
    Positive Thinking Keeps Things in Perspective
    As I said in Chapter 1 , thinking positively helps us keep things in perspective. When we think positively, we avoid “making mountains out of molehills.” Negative thinking tends to blow things out of proportion, viewing them as larger and more difficult than they really are. People who think negatively magnify the unpleasant or undesirable aspects of a situation while failing to see anything good in it. I believe every person’s life and even his circumstance includes more right than wrong and more good than bad if he simply determines to think positively about it and look for the good elements in it. You see, I still believe that God is bigger than the devil!

    Think about It
    Have you made a mountain out of a molehill lately? Is there something in your life that you are blowing out of proportion?
     
     
    Positive Thinking Helps You Enjoy Life

    Years ago, a man named Captain Edward A. Murphy was working on a project for the United States Air Force. He became angry and cursed a technician who made a mistake, noting that, “If anything can be done wrong, this man will do it.” Over time, such thinking