Book recommendation on positive thinking

[dacanay]

hi.

I have read a lot of discussions about books of self improvement and all that, ive seen a lot of titles but what iam truely looking for is a book on positive thinking. All about positive thinking, after realizing how important it is, i believe it is essential to success and living a great life.

So guys, what book on positive thinking would you recommend? and please though i believe in a higher power, i would prefer those books that didnt have too much relying on god, dont get me wrong i believe in a higher power like i said, but i dont get the concept of christianity that well. But Recommendations of Mr. Peale's books are welcome as it is not about purely religion.

To recap, i want the best book there is out there regarding positive thinking, developing it, etc. I would welcome all your suggestions. Thank you very much..

[Uplift]

The Power of Alpha Thinking - Miracle of the Mind by Jess Stearn is a great book. It pretty much fits your described requirements. I did a course based on it years ago, and I still reflect on how thorough it was, how well it works, and how it stands in good stead compared to 'modern' teachings, and the myriad of other courses and books I've read. I read the book after doing the course, and other than physical interaction and the confirmation an actual course provides, you could learn all you need from the book.

[Max Power]

Positive thinking and negative thinking are rollercoasters, good to validate the choices you make, but don't make the mistake of thinking they create anything.

I know that didn't answer your question, but I couldn't help myself

Max

[chris614]

Hey dacanay,

I’ve read a lot of books on positive thinking and what I found was that most of them espouse some form of controlling your thoughts. I tried for many years to train myself to control my thoughts, but it just never paid off for me.

I don’t want to discourage you from pursuing positive thinking, but rather offer a slightly alternative suggestion.

After spending years of trying to control my thoughts, I came to the conclusion that controlling my thoughts is either not possible or is too difficult to bother with (not worth the effort). Why too difficult to bother with? Because I don’t believe it’s necessary to control my thoughts. I’ve learned to control my reactions to my thoughts instead and this works very well for me.

There are multiple sources of material that can get you started on this path if you are interested. Check out a few of these resources - they are good places to start:

- Audio Dharma is a website that offers free audio files of talks given by Buddhist teachers that teach at The Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. I highly recommend this Introduction to Meditation Course – it deals with getting to know our minds and developing the power of choice in how we react to our thoughts. I have no affiliation with this site, but it is worth mentioning that all of their materials are available for free and they display no advertising, so if you can, try to donate something so that they can continue providing excellent value to people like us. Here is the page for the Intro to Meditation Course:

Introduction to Meditation


- Feeling Good by David Burns – this is a book that is based on Aaron Beck’s work in developing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (David Burns was Beck’s protégé). This book is written mainly for people who are suffering from depression, but there is a lot of excellent material on getting control of your reactions to your thoughts. Start with Part 2: Practical Applications on page 51. Here’s the amazon link to it:

Amazon.com: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated: Books: David D. Burns


Hope some of this helped.

Cheers,

Chris614
The Philosophy of Change.com

[Angela]

My favorite now is Ask and It is Given. Someone gave me that book and I ignored it for a year because of all the goddy-clouds and bible-sounding title.

But when I finally read it, it turned out to have the most practical and useful advice on "thinking thoughts that feel good when you think them" -- how much more positive can you get than that?! and the "processes" listed in the back are incredibly useful for helping me to interrupt and shift my habitual ways of thinking (the ones that don't feel so good.)

And it turns out that any mention of "god" is very generic, all-encompassing-universal-force kinda stuff -- no personal interventionist gods allowed. There is that "channeling" hooey, but I can live with that.

[LawofAttractionHandbook]

Originally Posted by Uplift

The Power of Alpha Thinking - Miracle of the Mind by Jess Stearn is a great book. It pretty much fits your described requirements. I did a course based on it years ago, and I still reflect on how thorough it was, how well it works, and how it stands in good stead compared to 'modern' teachings, and the myriad of other courses and books I've read. I read the book after doing the course, and other than physical interaction and the confirmation an actual course provides, you could learn all you need from the book.

I am currently reading this book! I randomnly picked it up in the library one day because it looked interesting. I've been reading it for about a week now and I have about 75 pages left. It really goes to show the potential ALL OF US possess, but aren't using. Excellent read, I recommend this book as well.

[Uplift]

Originally Posted by LawofAttractionHandbook

I am currently reading this book! I randomnly picked it up in the library one day because it looked interesting. I've been reading it for about a week now and I have about 75 pages left. It really goes to show the potential ALL OF US possess, but aren't using. Excellent read, I recommend this book as well.

Thats funny! I met Alexander Everett years ago. Great to talk to. Really amasing guy...and honest. I'll never forget him walking into one really expensive, crowded seminar and asking how much the people payed. He then went on to tell everyone that he charged the people promoting the seminar his air fare, accomodation and living expenses. Hilarious! Hope you enjoy the book, and moreso trying it out. I'll vouch 100% for everything it teaches, if you honestly learn and apply it. Here's my only tip and I'll butt out...enthusiasm, fun, happiness, totally involve yourself, your senses in fun and happiness, visualise that in completion .

[dacanay]

i see, thanks for the recommendations. Howbout the greatest salesman in the world? has anyone heard or read it? if so what would can you say about it and its relation to positive thinking?

thanks

[dacanay]

Chris614,

I think the controlling your thoughts thing you are doing is trying to stop them or block them out? Coz as Injoy (one of the members here and a person i owe my sanity to lolz) Trying to stop them does not work.I figured that out after trying to do so. It is the method of thought replacement that enables you to control your thoughts. to replace them with positve when they go negative. Such is the reason iam looking into positive thinking more

[chris614]

dacanay,

No, I don't try to stop my thoughts or block them out - that's impossible, they just keep coming and coming all day long.

I just came to the conclusion that trying to replace every negative thought with a positive one was dreadfully time consuming and frustrating AND not necessary, because, instead, I could dis-identify myself with my thoughts - i.e. realize that my thoughts are not me. This dis-identification empowered me to control MY REACTION to my thoughts.

This way a negative thought could come into my head and stay there as long as IT wants to (I allow it to be there - I don't fight it), but it doesn't need to bother me or set me off into a bad emotional state, or make me act in ways that I didn't want to act.

I am sure that there are many positive thinking books that can be helpful, but the ones I read in the past led me down a path that ultimately did not work for me. I would encourage you to try some different things out and see what works for you, because that is ultimately more important than advice that I or anyone else could ever give you.

Cheers,

Chris614
The Philosophy of Change.com

[dacanay]

I see, but with i can see, these negative thoughts never seemed to bother you like they did with me. You know, thinking one negative thought over and over, take note JUST ONE! and it gives me the worst emotions. all i had to do was to replace it with one of a positve thought and its gone. you get the difference with my situation bro?

[chris614]

dacanay,

my thoughts bother me too. they create negative emotions for me, i'm human just like you.

it sounds like replacing the bad thoughts with good ones works for you, so you should stick with that, and be happy that you found something that works for you.

i think all of this stuff is only about one thing - finding what works for you.

so, it sounds like you are there.



Chris614
The Philosophy of Change.com