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ZERO TOLERANCE TO NEGATIVE THINKING |
POSITIVE THINKING MAKES A DIFFERENCE
What you think and how you
think makes a huge the difference in the outcome of your life.
When your life is hanging by a thread, the weight of negative
thinking can break the thread.
When I was lying in the
intensive care unit with two broken legs, a broken scapula, five
broken ribs, a pneumothorax, a hemothorax, and a blood
transfusion running into my veins, positive thinking made a
difference.
Because I am a physician, I was
fully aware of the problems and complications stalking my
bedside. The major long bone fractures could cause fat embolism
to the lungs. The seven units of blood running into my veins
could cause hepatitis or AIDS. The partially collapsed lung
could cause pneumonia. Prolonged bed rest creates a risk of
deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Fractures may not
heal, and infection in the fracture sites could result in
disastrous osteomyelitis. I have seen all of these
complications happen to victims of trauma, and they’re not
uncommon. Fortunately, none of these complications happened
anywhere except in my mind.
When I was flat on my back in
the intensive care unit, I had to decide if I was going to
listen to the voice of fear and negativity, and make a bad
experience worse by filling my mind full of fear.
Doctors frequently are bad
patients because they know too much about their problems, and
that knowledge adds to their burden. I was fortunate to have
excellent care and a supportive family who helped me deal with
this experience in a positive manner.
Major disasters that traumatize
your physical body teach you about positive thinking in a
special way. When you feel great and your body is healthy, it’s
easy to think positive. But when you have been run over by the
Mack Truck of Life, positive thinking is difficult. When it
takes six months to be able to walk without crutches, thinking
positive is a major challenge. When your plans are on hold, and
you aren’t sure if you will be able to continue your dream,
thinking positive is hard. When recovery from a physical
disaster takes a year or two, thinking positive is put in a
radically different perspective.
Mental recovery may be even
more difficult than physical recovery. Physical therapy may
restore your physiology, but restoring a positive mind may seem
to be an insurmountable challenge.
As a physician, I was
acquainted with suffering, but it was only a distant relative
who never came to visit. When I experienced it myself, I found
that suffering looks different from the inside. When you
observe someone else suffer, it’s easy to tell them to think
positive. But when you’re the one doing the suffering, it takes
all of your resources to think a few positive thoughts each
day. When you are in pain, your body shouts an unremitting
stream of negative discouraging thoughts, while your mind
timidly whispers a few positive ones. Your mind whistles in the
dark hoping light is on the way and the nightmare will soon be
over.
When the body is unhealthy or
severely traumatized, the mind suffers as well. I have intense
admiration for people with disabilities who remain positive and
fully involved in life. For them staying positive is like
climbing Mount Everest every day.
DO NOT RUIN YOUR LIFE WITH NEGATIVE THINKING
No matter how positive your
life is, you can ruin it with negative thinking. When I sailed
across the Pacific Ocean on my catamaran, I had the joy of
sailing in the trade winds with my family. After leaving
Panama, we had 5000 miles of Pacific Ocean to cross before
arriving in New Zealand. Those five thousand miles would be an
unforgettable adventure unless we spoiled it with negative
thinking.
Negative thinking puts fear in
your heart when you sail through the massive thunderstorms of
the doldrums. Negative thinking makes you worry about your boat
being attacked by killer whales on the transpacific journey.
Negative thinking makes you worry about your boat capsizing.
Negative thinking makes you worry about hitting reefs and
encountering tropical cyclones. Negative thinking makes you
worry about your children’s education as they work their way
through their correspondence courses at a snail’s pace.
Negative thinking makes you worry about dragging anchor and
hitting a reef at night while you sleep in a tropical
anchorage. Negative thinking makes you worry about piracy.
Negative thinking steals your dreams.
Positive thinking makes every
aspect of life better. There is no limit to how good life can
become when your mind is full of positive thoughts. When I
sailed across the Pacific Ocean, positive thinking made trade
wind sailing into an exhilarating adventure. Our catamaran
sailed before the same warm trade winds that pushed Magellan and
Captain Cook across the Pacific Ocean hundreds of years before.
We rediscovered the islands of the South Pacific. The voice of
fear and negativity was absent as we sailed among the coral
atolls and the high tropical islands. Seeing the mysterious
volcanic pinnacles of the Marquesas Islands rising out of the
sea after sailing non-stop for three thousand miles is an
unforgettable positive memory. My children matured as they
stood their night watches. They were responsible for the lives
of four people as they checked the horizon for squalls and
ships, and ran the boat at night. They learned the lesson that
a positive mind can make dreams come true.
Positive thinking got us
through the doldrums in spite of the thunderstorms. The killer
whales of the Pacific never attacked our positive minds.
Positive action kept our yacht away from reefs and tropical
cyclones. Positive thinking and positive action kept us safe
and secure in dozens of tropical anchorages in the South Pacific
and made our transpacific sail into an unforgettable adventure.
Thinking positive is more than
worth the effort. It takes both the good times and the bad
times and makes them better. Don’t allow negative thinking to
steal your dreams. There is no limit to how good your life can
become if you think positive.
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THE POSITIVE WEB RING
The Positive Web Ring has eleven positive web
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Give your mind a push in a positive direction today. Cruise your way
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PositiveWebRing.com
PositiveSelfTalk.com
PositiveThinkingRadio.com
PositiveGraphics.com
PositiveChristianRadio.com
PositiveButterflies.com
MaximumStrength PositiveThinking.com
ZeroToleranceToNegativeThinking.com
TooManyDrummers.com
GodLovesU.com
Maxingout.com
RED SEA CHRONICLES DVD
When Dr. Dave isn't working as a flying doctor for the Indian Health
Service, He is sailing around the world on his sailboat. Find
out what it's like to sail on the ocean of your dreams by watching
Captain Dave's DVD.
Red Sea
Chronicles DVD Previews |
