Positive thinking and improve your mindset advice makes my toes curl. But I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t like to feel generally happier and more at ease in the world.

‘You need to think more positively’ is advice that makes most people feel worse. They know.

Besides, what percentage of positive thoughts are required? Are you allowed to have to 10% negative thoughts? Or is 30% negative permissible? Do you count them? Measure and grade each thought?

This concept just doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny.

Of course – there are times when I can snap out of a crappy mood just with a thought, and so can most other people I come across.

But persistently low moods, lack of motivation and chronic underachievement aren’t likely to be improved by this well-meaning, but ineffective advice.

This is from The Institute for Rapid Resolution Therapy, Inc. (RRT) facilitator’s manual:

“… where we are experiencing our emotions and thoughts is different from where they are generated. People try to change emotions from where they are being felt and thoughts from where they are being thought and are frequently encouraged to do so by others.”

Instead of imploring you to be positive, RRT talks about seeing opportunity and acting on it.

Instead of talking about getting motivated, RRT sees your mind entertaining,

➙ what would be good to do,

➙ and good to have done,

➙ and then attaching satisfaction to doing it.

Thought is not in charge of thought, any more than a cloud is in charge of the rain. Rain comes out of the cloud, but the cloud is generated by factors beyond it – temperature, moisture and pressure. And these are caused by other causes and so on.

Clouds are the perfect analogy for thought, because, according to the NASA website

“Although the basic idea of cloud (thought) formation is easy to understand, there is much more to learn. Peek beneath a cloud’s (thought’s) fluffy exterior, and you’ll find a world of complexity. In fact, clouds (thoughts) are considered one of the most challenging aspects of (climate) science.”

So what to do?

If someone is troubled, and are we are not going to tell them to get over it, to cheer up and be positive, what are we going to do?

We’re going to change the way their mind is reading data coming from outside and from within. The cause of the trouble is a misreading of this data. In RRT, this is called a ‘data blip.’

Once we do that, everything else take care of itself.

These are some examples of data blips I have cleared with RRT

? Thinking that losing money day trading meant that I was hell-bent on self-sabotage (and would be forever).

? Thinking that suffering and ‘doing without’ is the path to a better future.

? Thinking that what happened to me when I was four, was reflective of my essence, and my ability to be effective in life.

I tried for decades to clear this stuff with therapy, self-help and spirituality – all to no avail, but this worked.

#positivemindset #positivity #transformation #trading