How To Attain A Peaceful Mind And Enhance Your Power Of Positive Thinking

Many people think that in general they have a peaceful mind. However let's
just first define exactly what a peaceful mind is not. By doing this you clearly be able to see if you do actually indeed have a peaceful mind or if you are just kidding yourself...

A peaceful mind does not include regular negative/worrying thoughts regarding your: financial problems, health problems, relationship problems, the state of the world in general, family life or work itself. A peaceful mind is also certainly not one that continually jumps from one thought to another at an alarming rate, never able to settle and it is not one that feels unduly over-stretched and burdened all the time.

One technique known as the 'Relaxation Response' devised by Dr. Benson and mentioned in his book: The Relaxation Response’ published by Dr Herbert Benson of Harvard University in 1968 is to:

1. Pick a focus/power word, short phrase, or prayer that is firmly rooted in your belief system, such as "peace," "The Lord is my shepherd," "Hail Mary full of grace," or "shalom."
   
2. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
   
3. Close your eyes.
   
4. Relax your muscles, progressing from your feet to your calves, thighs, abdomen, shoulders, head, and neck.
5. Breathe slowly and naturally, and as you do, say your focus word, sound, phrase, or prayer silently to yourself as you exhale.
   
6. Assume a passive attitude. Don't worry about how well you're doing. When other thoughts come to mind, simply say to yourself, "Oh well," and gently return to your repetition.
   
7. Continue for ten to 20 minutes.
   
8. Do not stand immediately. Continue sitting quietly for a minute or so, allowing other thoughts to return. Then open your eyes and sit for another minute before rising.
   
9. Practice the technique once or twice daily. Good times to do so are before breakfast and before dinner. (Mind-Body Medical Institute)
   

Another technique for stress reduction is that of meditating whilst walking or going through other daily activities. This basically promotes mindfulness whereby your thoughts are focused entirely in the 'now'. This enables you to escape from usual thought patterns and troubles from the past or worries about the future thereby reducing your stress levels.

So now that we have gotten rid of those bad negative thoughts through meditation and you have developed a clearer mind, you will have automatically increased your positivity as you have simply reduced your negative thoughts. Now we can take this a step further by adding visualizations/mental imagery and positive affirmations in to your meditation. If you don't know what these are you will find them covered in other articles on this site.

By including mental imagery and positive affirmation in your meditation you will not only be projecting positive thoughts and images out (which will not only make you feel more positive) but you will also start to attract those situations that you have envisaged in your mind in to your life (through the 'law of attraction').

I now urge you to go out and start putting into practice these simple techniques and just feel how much your power of positive thinking increases!

By Positive Thinking Man