Laura’s Take: The Power of Positive thinking; helping us achieve our Healthy Habits

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny” ~Charles Reade

From my previous post I spoke about my struggle with depression and anxiety. During the time I was serving an LDS mission was when I began to reap new habits and it all began with positive thinking.

In the second letter from my bishop he wrote: “As a ‘confession,’ I used to really dislike being told to have a ‘PMA’ (positive mental attitude) and similar things, probably because it seemed trite and somewhat ‘cheer-leaderish.’ However, now I realize it isn’t so trite at all. Indeed, it is a precursor to exercising true faith.”

I had felt the same way. All throughout Jr. High School and High School I looked down on positive people. I felt they were ignorant to the real suffering and pain in the world. Looking back, I was the ignorant one.

I began collecting positive quotes like an entomologist collects butterflies during this time of transition. I feel like I should share two of my favorites. The first is called “If”

IF

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellows’ will.
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are.
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself
Before you can win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

~ Anonymous

“The Eternal Everyday” by Edmund Vance Cooke (fragment)

“…O, one might reach heroic heights
By one strong burst of power.
He might endure the whitest lights
Of Heaven for an hour;–
But harder is the daily drag,
To smile at trials which fret and fag,
And not to murmur – nor to lag.
The test of greatness is the way
One meets the eternal Everyday.”

I put that last poem to memory and I would recite it in my mind or with those I visited. It was a source of great comfort to me. (I found it while reading the Ensign: Quentin L. Cook, “Looking beyond the Mark,” Ensign, Mar 2003, 40–44)

Our thoughts have power for good or ill. I have felt this very literally in my life. For an example of the literal power of pray/positive thinking can be found in an account by Dr. W. Jerome Stowell I read after I came home from mission. It is a bit lengthy so I won’t post it here, but you can read the account at this link.


A small summary of the story is about a group of scientists looking for a way to measure the electrical charges in the brain during the transition of dying to death. On this measuring device they had measured the power used by a 50,000 watt broadcasting station sending a message around the world at nine points on the positive scale. They then measured a dying woman (they could hear what she was saying during her last hours) as she prayed. They didn’t have an instrument strong enough to register the positive number, it was higher than the 500 positive points on their scale. This had a similar but opposite effect as they measured a man who was more bitter and angry.

Our very thoughts have the power to propel us to our dreams or our nightmares. They have a real affect on our attitudes and our health. If we want positive changes in our lives we need to feed our minds with pure, uplifting, edifying activities. Through our own actions and the aid from our Father above we can achieve anything we set our mind to. “Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny”

Habit

HABIT

hab·it [hábbit] n

1.	regularly repeated behavior pattern: an action or pattern of behavior that is repeated so often that it becomes typical of somebody, although he or she may be unaware of it

Oh, habits. How many we each have, good and bad. But there is hope! Habits can be changed. It just takes consistency. My bad habits with sugar addiction were eating for fun, eating for comfort and eating to cope. I began to mentally catalog how often I thought of making desserts or eating something sweet and how often I went to the cupboard or fridge and I was absolutely shocked. All day. Every day. Worse on the weekend. What an awful way to live - where every moment is spent on the same thing. I didn't want to leave the house without grabbing a handful of Skittles or go on a drive unless it meant we could go for ice cream or go fishing unless we could take candy. That's a really expensive way to live.

Eating to cope and eating for comfort can be eliminated with proper stress management.

Eating for fun - ugh. That has been a very difficult one to change. It's taken time, self pep talks and positive activity replacement to ease that one.

This site has some helpful habit changing information. Once again, I don't agree with all of it but some of the ideas are great and simple and not too wordy.  How to Break a Habit

For me, recognizing the moments I was being habitual was key. Next came a detailed plan of how and why to change. Getting out of the house or doing something positive, uplifting and creative has helped the tender process of denying and replacing the bad habit with something better. Getting my mind off sugar has been SO important. For example, I am an artist and I like to draw with pen and ink. So I draw when I have time. Corey and I like to play Halo together.  Do something truly rewarding and the need for the sugar reward is no longer as appealing. It's really that simple.

Here is an excerpt from 'How to Break a Habit'

"Try to replace your habit with something new and positive in your life. The key is not to focus on the "not doing", but to think instead about "doing". Instead of thinking about missing that piece of chocolate cake after dinner, think about how good it is going to feel to take a long walk without all that sugar in your system."

Give yourself time and living well will get easier.  3 weeks to break a habit and 3 weeks before a new habit sets in.  It's all about consistency and recognition.

What do you do break or make a habit?