DEALING WITH THE NEGATIVE

 DEALING WITH THE NEGATIVE

 

Around the Year with Emmet Fox

 

December 29

 

What is meant by negative thinking?

A negative thought is any thought of failure,

disappointment, or trouble;

any thought of criticism, or spite, or jealousy,

or condemnation of others, or self-condemnation;

any thought of sickness or accident;

or, in short, any kind of limitation.

In practice you will never have any trouble

in knowing whether a given thought

 is positive or negative.

Even if your brain tries to deceive you,

your heart will whisper the truth.

 

Second, you must be quite clear

that what this scheme calls for

is that you shall not dwell upon negative things.

It is not the thoughts that come to you that matter,

but only such of them

 as you choose to entertain and dwell upon.

Many negative thoughts will come to you all day long.

Some will be given to you by other people,

or you will hear disagreeable news.

These things, however, do not matter

so long as you do not entertain them.

An analogy is furnished by the case of a man

who is sitting by an open fire

when a red-hot cinder flies out and falls on his sleeve.

If he blows that cinder off at once,

without a moment’s delay to think about it, no harm is done.

But if he allows it to rest on him for a single moment,

under any pretense, the mischief is done,

and it will be a troublesome task to repair that sleeve.

So, it is with a negative thought.

“Repent therefore of this thy wickedness,

and pray God,

if perhaps the thought of thine heart

may be forgiven thee.”

Acts 8:22

 

People often find that the starting

 of this seven-day mental diet

seems to stir up difficulties.

It seems as though everything begins

 to go wrong at once.

This may be disconcerting, but it is really a good sign.

Suppose your whole world

seems to rock on its foundations.

Hold on steadily, let it rock,

and when the rocking is over,

the picture will have reassembled itself

into something much nearer to your heart’s desire.
Do not tell anyone else that you are on a diet.

Remember that your soul should be

 the Secret Place of the Most High.

When you have secured your new mentality,

then tell the story to anyone else whom you think

is likely to be helped by it.

“Tell ye your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children another generation”

Joel 1:3