It's Positive Thinking Day: Don't Think Positive Thoughts. Think Powerful Thoughts.

Hello and welcome to my first blog, just in time for Positive Thinking Day this Sunday, September 13th.

Many folks say that positive thinking works and an equal number say that positive thinking does not work. And guess what, everyone’s right! For this reason, I don’t use the term positive thinking, I use the term powerful thinking.

There is a distinct difference between a positive thought and a powerful thought.

Positive thoughts often do not work (remember the Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night Live who made positive affirmations in the mirror).

Often, if they do work, they work only temporarily. We've all experienced this when we get all motivated to make a change after we have listened to a speaker, read a book, made resolutions, or heard a rah-rah pep talk. Two weeks later, we're back to the way we were.

Powerful thoughts, on the other hand do work. Powerful thoughts inspire us, spark creativity, access our highest awareness, and bring us ideas that move us in a direction that serves our purpose.

So how do we know if a thought is powerful or not? Very simply, by noticing how we feel as we think a thought. When a thought is not working for us, we don’t feel good as we are thinking the thought. Our head and neck are tense, our eyebrows are furrowed, our breath is short, our chest and stomachs are tight. And we don't feel true to our selves.

When we are thinking a powerful thought, we feel good. We feel at peace. We feel a sense of inner power. We feel inspired.

Powerful thoughts include thoughts with vision and purpose, thoughts of wonder and possibility, thoughts of thankfulness and thoughts that are true to who we really are and what really matters to us.

When we think powerful thoughts, we are in tune with our highest awareness and in touch with our creativity. It is when we are inspired that we achieve significant results. It is when we are inspired that we transform and achieve significant results.

Make it a practice to notice how you feel in body and spirit as you think a thought or say it out loud. (For those of you in business, notice how you feel as you state your mission statement, your goals, or communicate with your customers or employees.)

Do you feel inspired as you are thinking the thought? Do you feel at peace? Do you feel true to yourself? Do you feel that you can make a difference? Do you feel a sense of wonder? If not, there is another way to think the thought to serve your purpose.

We can take positive thinking to a whole new level, think powerfully, and be creative, inspired, and impactful in all we do.

©2009 Managing Thought. All rights reserved.

For more on this topic and how to manage your thoughts in everyday circumstances and how to deal with the challenges you face in practicing self-awareness and being on purpose, Click Here.