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Attitudinal Healing
This is one of the main keys in eliminating negativity. It does take discipline to do this, but it is well worth making the effort for. When you start you will notice many subtle layers of negativity within your consciousness. Don't feel bad about them as we all have them, every single human being. There is the top, obvious layer of "I cant's" and the like. Once you start dealing with this you will become aware of other layers below this, which are much more subtly woven into your consciousness. Since you will have spent time making yourself aware of the negativity by then, you will find it much easier to spot and remove these subtler forms.
Once you have spotted them of course, you need to replace them with something. You can do this with Positive Visualisations or Affirmations. You can also change it then and there, with a powerful mental image of positivity. For example, you are about to start a new job and you arrive at the office and your mind is full of "I can't do this" thoughts. Do not let them come in to your mind and take root. Visualise a wall or bars coming down to keep them out. Then positively focus on "I CAN DO THIS" changing the negative to the positive. Repeat this three times to strengthen it and you will be fine. It really does work, honest. And ... you will notice a difference very quickly, so keep it up and persevere. It really is worth it.
As part of this healing process, there is a meditation worth doing to help you understand your belief patterns. Firstly, find a quiet place to sit where you won't be disturbed for 15-20 minutes, and get yourself a pen and paper. Then sit quietly, and centre yourself. Relax and breathe deeply and evenly. Take your pen and paper and begin to write down all the beliefs you hold. These can be about yourself, about money, about love, about life, about people. Keep writing and be honest with yourself. Remember that if you lie here then the only person you are lying to is yourself, no one else. Some of these beliefs may not be too easy to face, but be brave and face them because that is the first step to ridding yourself of them.
Once you have written them down and no more are coming out take a break, go and do something else for a little while. Then come back and re-read what you have written. Try to determine, if you can, where these beliefs come from as this will help you in reprogramming them and stopping them from taking root again. Now you can work on reprogramming these beliefs through affirmations, positive visualisation, and whatever other techniques suit you best.
A lot of our beliefs we will find are not our own, but are programmed into us by our parents, the media and our surroundings. For example, when we were growing up our parents may have always said to us "We can't afford that" which programs you with a worry about money. You may see in the news something about another country and from that you mentally create a belief pattern, perhaps "All xxxxxxx are ignorant savages" whereas they are not all like that, no more than all the British take afternoon tea (they don't by the way).
We also hold cultural beliefs. These are beliefs that are programmed into us by the society we grow up in. These relate to our social status, ethnic group, geographical region, religion, and nationality. For example, those born into high social standing often have beliefs that people without money are below them. Certain ethnic groups are brought up with the belief that they are not as good as other ethnic groups. Religions have pre-programmed sets of beliefs, usually along the lines of "My god is better than yours", or that disbeliever's are inferior. Countries have national pride and enmities. For example, China and Tibet, North and South Korea, America and Cuba. Removing these can be much more work, but again, the end goal is well worth pursuing.
One thing to remember here is not to use generalities. You may have been taught that all Communists are bad people, but they are not. There are good Communists who care for other people as there are good and bad Americans, British, Japanese, and so on. This applies to all of our cultural beliefs. Not all rich people are mean, not all poor people are thieves, not all religious people are pompous, etc.
Attitudinal healing is about challenging all these beliefs. It is like looking after your garden, where your mind is your garden. You do not want weeds and debris cluttering your garden, and nor do you want them in your mind. You have to go through and weed out the thoughts that serve no purpose and you do not want, or need, there. Remember though that this is not a one off process, it is a continual process. As new weeds always grow, new thoughts and patterns are always entering our minds, but as we follow this path so we stop them from taking root and making themselves at home.
To effect these changes does require some discipline on your part, as often negativity creeps in from the most surprising avenues. However, after a short period of time you will find that eliminating negativity will become a habit and you will be catching the thoughts before they can even get into your mind.
By Jason Johns
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