Does Positive Thinking Work?

By Rodney Inns

Interesting question as a hypnotherapist practicing hypnotherapy I have a different view on this than others could have.

First off let me say I practice it and it works for me! Saying that I am an NLP Master Practitioner and Hypnotherapist so I do plenty of work on my self in alternate ways to improve my life and positive thinking is only one aspect of it.

When it comes to my clients well I have got to say that positive thinking just does not work the way that my clients have used it, permit me to explain. The clients I see have issues along the line of depression, anxiety, anger, loneliness, low self worth and other stuff no matter why they come to see me for these make up the key elements of their problem.

Often at some point in the past they have been introduced to positive thinking to help with their issues either by them-self or other health practitioners. The difficulty arises as they practice this they still have the same issues as before and they're still doing in their head what hey have always done to create the depression, anxiety and so on. While the new positive thinking is a conscious effort the old Problems are a unconscious process which has been going for many years commonly.

So what I find occurs with them is they create a new trance or state on top of the older one, at last it becomes unconscious process as well with time. A way to think about it is well imagine that we are like an onion and we have layers to us, the old issues are some layers of the onion towards the middle while the new positive layer is a new layer of the onion on the outside that sits on top of all of the old stuff.

So when I see clients I am going to ask them stuff like how do you feel about the past, future, your spouse, children , parents, and yourself to name 1 or 2. Remembering they came for an issue that is causing them a lot of discomfort. They'll say stuff like, I'm satisfied, everything is good, my relationship is great. As they say these answers I can see they are lying not at a conscious level because consciously they sort of believe this, its like they have got a split personality when they give positive answers this is due to the fact that that is what you should think and say from one viewpoint! While on the other hand at the exact same time they know they're distressed, they are effectively in 2 minds. We all pick up on this all the time when some one tells us something and we do not believe it, they're saying one thing consciously while at the same time they are saying subconsciously through body language something else. This is what I'm picking up on when they're lying to me.

In this case the positive thinking doesn't work because it creates ambiguity! On one hand the Client is miserable and on the other they're saying they're not and it complicates the action of helping them. I need to know how they feel about their life, so I know precisely what we need to address so I can help them but they on one had say they are depressed and then on the other answer every other questions as if they have no Problems while at a unconscious level they're sending a totally different message.

Now what I suspect these clients are doing is utilizing the positive thinking in a way to try to hide from their Problems, like people use drugs, alcohol, food etc. Also a key component to positive thinking is you have to manifest positive feelings with the thoughts!! If you do not well it'll never works regardless of how much you do it! Ultimately positive thinking needs to lead to positive feelings. I believe that's the thing they do when they are using positive thinking they are manifesting depression, anxiety, or negative feelings with the thoughts instead of positive feelings.

Another part of this is I think they also have to do the work to release all the negative feelings, principles and particularly emotions they have stored in their body/mind. Once this is done I think positive thinking can work, because they may then be well placed to manifest positive feelings to go with the practice. As for folks who are not suffering from any real negative emotions impacting their life, I don't have any idea how it works for them. Though I'm able to guess that if they manifest positive feelings in the act then it should work for them too. I've only really addressed issues I've found with my clients.

So I believe that positive thinking usually does not work for the great majority of people and can be a waste of time. The reason Why I say this Is often because most people don't know how to do positive thinking and they do not have any real guidance on the way to use it. Almost all of the people I know who've recommended this as a practice to my clients don't practice it them self, so what does this say for the practice of positive thinking?

About the Author:

Rodney Inns has been studying and working in the field of Hypnotherapy Melbourne for over 5 years. On his business website he has more information for people interested in booking in for a session for assistance with weight loss hypnotherapy, stop smoking, Phobia?s to name one or two. He also has a blog where he's got more information on Hypnotherapy, NLP and quick change work.