Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind Read Online Free PDF

again. The testers told some people the Veladone-Rx pills cost $2.50 each, while they told others the pills cost only ten cents each. Almost all the people who thought the pills cost $2.50 each reported pain relief when they got the second series of shocks, but only half of those who thought the pills were ten cents each reported any relief at all. The truth about Veladone-Rx: the pills were nothing more than vitamin C tablets. 6

    What was the key to Dr. Ariely’s experiment? People think expensive products work better than inexpensive ones. The pills that supposedly cost $2.50 each didn’t have any actual pain-relieving effect at all on those who took them, but the people expected the pills to be effective because they cost a lot. Their expectations set them up to think positively about the pills and report positive results, even when the pills provided nothing but a boost of vitamin C.
    Clearly, positive thinking often yields positive results. In the next section of this book, I want to share and elaborate on four specific things positive thinking “does” to facilitate positive results in our lives:
• Positive thinking releases the power of potential.
• Positive thinking encourages positive responses.
• Positive thinking keeps things in perspective.
• Positive thinking helps you enjoy life.

    Think about It
    On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “not good at all” and 10 being “outstanding,” how would you rate yourself as a positive thinker?
     
     
    Positive Thinking Releases the Power of Potential
    People who think positively can see potential in even the most discouraging situations, while those who do not think positively are quick to point out the situations’ problems and limitations. This goes beyond the proverbial idea of simply seeing a glass “half-full” or “half-empty” and extends to actually making decisions and taking actions based on either positive thinking or negative thinking.

    One of the best stories I know about how positive thinking releases the power of potential took place centuries ago, when many parts of the ancient world were still unsettled. God promised the people of Israel they would possess a rich and fertile country, known as Canaan. He didn’t promise them they could step across its borders without opposition, but He did promise them they would inhabit it—and when God makes a promise, He means it.
    Taking God at His Word, the Israelites appointed twelve men to go into Canaan to “spy out the land” and bring back a report. Upon their return, ten spies admitted that the land flowed with milk and honey, and acknowledged that the fruit in Canaan was large and beautiful, but then remarked that the land was full of giants who would be impossible to overcome. They allowed the presence of the giants to detract from the promises of God.
    In contrast, Joshua and Caleb brought back good reports, full of faith and confidence in God, and Caleb spoke up with confidence, saying, “Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it” (Numbers 13:30). The ten spies thought the giants in the land were too big to kill, but Joshua and Caleb thought they were too big to miss. Joshua and Caleb were the only two men who were positive in the face of opposition from the giants. They didn’t ignore the challenges, but they did not over-emphasize them—and they were the only two who entered the Promised Land.
    The spies who died in the wilderness only saw what was and failed to see what could be. Their negative thinking produced defeatist attitudes and caused them to try to persuade Moses that God’s Word to Israel was not true, that possessing the Promised Land was not really possible.
    Being positive does not mean we deny the existence of difficulty; it means we believe God is greater than our difficulties. Believing in God can cause us to win any battle we face. When we are closed to “positive possibilities” we only see what is right in front of us, not what