The Power of Positive Thinking
Pledge to never allow another negative thought to enter your mind
(By Javier Guerra)
(Photo: Dingzeyu Li/Unsplash)
Isn’t it amazing how much our brains can influence us with negative thoughts? One negative thought can wholly and completely distort our understanding of the world around us and how we react to it.
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For example, you might be having a terrific week. Then, you have one bad audition, or you lose out on a co-star role that you really wanted. That single event can seem so dramatic to you that you begin to tell yourself, “I’m having a bad week.”
Once you’ve labeled your week as being “bad”, based on one unpleasant event, you begin to despair. Your mood is negatively affected. Your mind will magnify other “bad” events to continue the narrative, while downplaying “good” events. It’s the cognitive bias known as “confirmation bias”.
Sophia Loren: “Despite all doubts, you’ve got to believe. Always!”
Before you even realize it, your brain has now taken a week that was 80% good, distorted it and has convinced you that your week was 100% bad. All the good parts of your week fade into the background of this distortion.
“The greatest discovery of all-time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”
(Oprah Winfrey)
That’s why it is important to train your brain to not allow negative thoughts to enter into it. And that starts with monitoring the words you use and properly framing events that happen in your life.
For example, let’s say you’ve been trying to get your first theatrical agent. You’ve been diligently sending your marketing materials to agents all over town. You’ve gingerly asked your contacts for referrals. You’ve gone to showcases. Yet nothing seems to work.
Your response might be:
“I can’t get a good agent.”
But once you give yourself the invisible barrier: “can’t”, you’ll live within the confines of it for a long time. And that is a prison you might never escape.
Why would you even try? You’ve already told your soul that it’s impossible. Slowly but surely, you’ll lose your motivation to gain representation which, in turn, makes it even less likely that you’ll find a good rep.
But what if you simply changed a few words in that statement? What if you said something like:
“How can I get a good agent?”
Simply by adding the word “how”, your mind opens up to the possibilities. You have told your soul that there is, indeed, a pathway to success. All you now have to do is to find it.
Perhaps you need to change your approach to finding an agent. Perhaps you need to be a little more patient. Perhaps you’re submitting to the wrong agents. Perhaps you’re submitting to the right agents at the wrong time.
In approaching the problem with an open mind and a positive attitude, you’ll keep searching for the answer until you find it, rather than quitting prematurely.
“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
(Winston Churchill)
It works with other phrases, too!
For example:
Never say things like, “I suck as an actor!”
Say, instead, “I’m still learning as an actor and I’m improving every day!”
Never say things like, “My audition was a total failure.”
Say, instead, “My audition was a great learning experience.”
Never use words like, “I’m so depressed that I didn’t book the role!”
Say, instead, “Oh well! I didn’t get it. But at least I got the callback and was placed on availability. I must be doing something right!”
“Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.”
(Dennis P. Kimbro)
Try it sometime! Pledge to never allow another negative thought to enter your mind. Pledge to always see challenges as opportunities. Pledge to always see the silver lining in the dark clouds.
I guarantee you that positive thinking will change your career and your life, because it has already changed mine.
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