Let’s suppose that, upon reading the recent spate of posts on positive or right thinking, you’re willing to throw your hat in the ring. Great. Your next question is: “How?”

Here’s a clean method:

S1: You’ll need to up your introspective game because you first have to label a thought a “negative thought.”

Your best clue with respect to coming to this determination (negative? neutral? positive?) will be to experience the energetic imprint of the thought. Is there an energy toll being exacted? If so, you’ll feel energy go down. That diminution of energy is your clear sign that that thought was indeed a negative one.

S2: Once you’ve determined that it is a negative thought, you nip it in the bud by formulating a vigorous, positive thought. Here, I offer three guidelines:

• The formulation should be no more than six words. Three or four words is often the optimal length.
• The belief should have a present tense verb. (Ergo, toss out: “All shall be will.” Instead, “All is well.”)
• Typically, I or God should be the subject of the sentence. (Ex: “I’ve got this.” Ex: “God is benevolent.”)

Why Does It Work?

To assuage any doubts and thus to get you into it, I’ll offer a very thin hypothesis. Since one-pointed concentration = power, notice that your sankalpa (your three to four word positive belief) is an act of compression. That compression moves the mind from the rajasic–i.e., scattered and proliferating–condition (“I don’t know. People are terrible. No, some are all right, I guess. Well, I know that Tom isn’t bad, but then Sarah…”) to a sattvic condition of clarity and calmness. Trust, faith, or solid belief (e.g., “I’ve got this.”) is approaching one-pointedness and, as stated, one-pointedness is power.

I said that I’d offer you just a thin hypothesis, one that even a secular person can endorse. More rococo metaphysical accounts–about the Indwelling Self, about the actual benevolence of God–await.

You have to try this approach out to see whether it works. Nobody can do it for you.