In this episode of the Open Your Eyes podcast, McKay talks about taking the positive approach in life.  Have you ever known someone who just seems to have a critical nature?  What was it like to be around them?  It’s easy for you, and me, to get in the habit of being critical or negative, and soon we may not even be aware that we are that way.  At the end of the day, we can choose to take the positive approach with people and ourselves. And that’s just why our host finds this topic important to discuss today. As Norman Vincent Peale said: “A positive thinker does not refuse to recognize the negative; he refuses to dwell on it. Positive thinking is a form of thought which habitually looks for the best results from the worst conditions.” 

Weaving stories of positivity about greats like Henry Longfellow and Vincent Peale, McKay inspires the audience to not only believe in the positive approach, but also to adhere to it too.  Most importantly, he wants the audience to remember that negativity can be a force for good, but it can also be all-consuming. We don’t need to completely eradicate all negativity from our lives to become more optimistic individuals.  In fact, some of the most positive people have the darkest pasts.  So why not take the positive and growth oriented approach?  We have nothing to lose. 

The Finer Details of This Episode: 

• Henry Longfellow’s positive determination
• Why negativity is contagious 
• Firing neurons and their patterns
• The returns of the positive approach
• Washing your metaphorical “dirty window”
• “Post It Note therapy”

Quotes: 

“​​A negative view can rob you of some very important things.  The first thing you lose is yourself.  You see, you can’t take the negative approach and not lose a part of you in the process. Because your patterns of negative thinking soon turn from others to you.”

“So when you have a thought, your brain searches for patterns to connect to, and if your established patterns are negative, you will think negative—even if it’s about yourself.”

“A positive thinker does not refuse to recognize the negative; he refuses to dwell on it. Positive thinking is a form of thought which habitually looks for the best results from the worst conditions.”

“Sure enough, the view from our window, our belief window, can get stained with our own negative view and this tends to stain what we see around us.”

“And watch what will happen, yes, you will get better results with people, but you, your thought patterns, how you feel about yourself will improve.”

Links:

https://www.mckaychristensen.org/