{Series Part 3–The Ant and the Elephant: Commit to Cultivating Positive Dominant Thoughts

Last week in the series about chasing your dream, Brio the owl taught Adir the ant how to CLARIFY HIS VISION. This week (week 3) I will introduce the second step needed to accomplish your dream—COMMIT TO CULTIVATING POSITIVE DOMINANT THOUGHTS. If you haven’t read week 1 or week 2, I encourage you to take a minute to go back and read them and familiarize yourself with the basic ideas.

Brio started by reminding Adir that the worthiest goals take time and energy. Often it is hard for us, who are going through the process, to see the change. He explained, “Sometimes we need to trust that we are closer to the goal, even though we see no proof of any progress” Then he went on to give the analogy of the blue water. . .

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Imagine that you have a large bucket full of clear water, and your goal is to turn the water to blue. There is only one rule that you have to follow: you can only add one drop of blue dye each day. If you miss a day you can’t catch up the next day by adding two drops.

You are excited about getting a bucket of blue water—you have the elephant buzz. You’ve visualized it and created a detailed vision and are ready to take action. The first day you add a drop of blue dye to the water nothing happens. You shrug and tell yourself that you’ve just started. You are still optimistic and motivated. So the next day and the next and the next you add a drop to the bucket only to see it dissolve and disappear. Because you see the water every day you can’t see it, but there is the tiniest blue tinge to the water.

After 6 weeks of putting a drop of dye in the bucket and still not seeing any results you begin to get frustrated. In a world of instant gratification, we forget that dreams take time. This isn’t the time to second guess yourself. Don’t try a different dye. Don’t quit or move on to some other dream. Anyone else who sees the bucket of water for the first time after 6 weeks will wonder why you have a bucket of blue water. They can see the difference.

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Brio then taught that when we are frustrated with the seeming lack of progress or start having negative thoughts about the struggle, we are actually hindering our elephant from moving forward toward our dream. Instead we have to maintain positive, beneficial dominant thoughts. Positive thoughts come from good programming. What kinds of thoughts are you putting into your head? Are you reading good books? Listening to uplifting audios? Associating with the right people? Are you aware of the effects of social media on your mind?

Another way to nurture positive thoughts is through affirmations. There are a lot of schools of thought on how to create affirmations. I’m going to focus on one and allow you to do the research on other options.

I mentioned last week that I went to a conference that taught a new way to create vision boards. At this same conference, they also taught a different way to create affirmations. I remember the emotions I felt when I did this activity at the conference. It was a powerful feeling.

1.      Start by writing 3 negative words or phrases you say to yourself or you hear others say about you. Do this on one side of a piece of paper. (I am not good enough.)

2.      On the other half of the paper, rewrite the sentence to stop the negativity. (I am good enough.)

3.      Add another positive sentence plus a physical feature. Negative comments are slowly deforming our physical features. This positive phrase helps to rebuild. Do this for each negative phrase. (I am capable. I have great legs.)

4.      Tear up the negative side and throw it away.

5.      End by standing and saying the positive phrases 3 times. Say them loudly and with emotion.

Now that you’ve created a vision and are ready to put in the needed work, the next step is to COMMIT TO CULTIVATING POSITIVE DOMINANT THOUGHTS. You do this by staying the course and remembering that change is gradual, surround yourself with positive programming, and creating affirmations.

Come back next week to learn the next step—CONSISTENTLY FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE.

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