The 3 Keys for Transforming Negative Thoughts Into Positive Beliefs

Are you a perfectionist? Do you brood and worry that the work you do is never good enough, and as a result you will never be good enough?

You are not alone in feeling this way. Millions of people in America and the West have been raised to appropriate this negative mindset. We are taught from a very young age that what we do, and who we are, is just not good enough. To fix this problem, we are advised to work harder while expecting less in return. To spend more, even though we receive less quality, are paid less, and prices are rising. We are told to accept, without question, the myth that humans are by nature lazy, shiftless, and imperfect beings who must continually strive to overcome their inherent imperfection through mindless drudgery and toil. The cure for our affliction, we are told, is (surprise) to work harder and longer, spend more, while knowing our inherent imperfection will always rise up to keep us from achieving the perfection we seek. It is a vicious cycle, which dominates the western mind.

There are many reasons why this negative mindset has taken root in western culture. However, I would like to focus on how to begin rooting it out of your mind, so that you can begin to appreciate who you are, and the many good and positive contributions you bring to life.

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus teaches:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The modern westerner reads this and likely thinks that this passage advocates laziness, a lack of ambition, and if taken seriously will lead to poverty and lack. However, the passage cited above, if understood, can instead lead you to a life of freedom, happiness, abundance, and prosperity. But how can your needs be met without labor or worry? This seems too idealistic, too good to be true. But is it?

No it is not. In fact, this passage offers 3 keys for achieving true success, and overcoming the negativity of perfectionism. They are as follows:

The First Key: Believe life is orderly and good, and all life receives exactly what they need to live a full and happy life.

Whether you believe in God or not, it is a scientific fact that all life, yours included, is supported by invisible forces (energy) and unconscious processes (like breathing) which your striving and worrying has no impact on, other than to impede their proper functioning. For example, anxiety and worry makes the breath shallow, and increases the heart rate and blood-pressure. Stress releases hormones that cause metabolic damage, and negatively impact the nervous system. So the first key is to cease worrying and striving, and to become convinced that God, the universe, whatever you choose to call it, is good, and will provide for your needs abundantly. Striving, worrying, and working long hours only impedes and frustrates the natural order and function of life, which is to provide the necessities of life for all.

The Second Key: Be generous with your gifts, talents, and possessions.

The universe obeys certain fixed laws, and one of them is the law of cause and effect. In the passage, Jesus teaches us that if we wish to effect success, abundance, and happiness in our life we must first cause it by giving life the very best we have to offer. This is not perfectionism, because perfectionism teaches you will never be good enough. No, this law tells us that whatever talents or gifts we have, if we offer them freely to the world with passion and purpose, we will receive goodness and abundance in return. By storing our gifts (the symbol Jesus uses is a barn), and refusing to share them freely with the world, we show our lack of belief in the goodness and abundance of life, and create a state of lack, struggle, and poverty in our life. So the second key teaches us to act on our belief in the goodness of life by giving life the very best we have. This will cause life to return to us every good thing that we need to live in happiness, freedom, and abundance.

The Third Key: Live for today.
Most people live either in the past, brooding over regrets and mistakes, or the future, hoping that someday their life will be happy and complete. In the passage, Jesus instructs us not to worry about tomorrow, that today has problems of its own. If you want to be truly happy, you have to accept that the only moment you really have is right now. Do you want to live this moment worrying about what other people think? Is it really worth it to worry about things you cannot control?

Instead, use the time you have to effect positive change, first in your mind, and then in your life. Believe you are good enough and life is good. Practice this belief by giving to life the very best you have. And live now, and enjoy the miracle of life in all its fullness.

Follow these three keys and you will overcome the negativity of never feeling good enough, and you will begin to enjoy success in life.

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