Do you live in the past or the present? It’s a tricky thing sometimes to move away from the negativity and into thinking and speaking only positively. If you tend to speak of and think of all the things that go wrong I challenge you to spend a day thinking about all the good things that happen to you or envision all the things you want to happen. See how the day goes and what changes you notice. Here’s a great post about living in the past and it becoming your future.

Whether you’re thinking and talking about a tragic event or even a minor irritation, you’re working against yourself and just perpetuating negative conditions. There is a Law of Dominant Thought, which states that we’re always moving in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts. That’s why it’s so important to keep your focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want. Said another way, what you focus on expands.

Wayne Dyer discusses this principle in his excellent book, The Power of Intention. Dyer quotes the following statement from Thomas Troward: “The law of flotation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things, but by contemplating the floating of things… ” I invite you to re-read this intriguing statement. What Troward meant is that we don’t achieve our objectives in life by contemplating (or discussing) the opposite of what we want to attain.

We don’t attract wealth when we contemplate being broke. We don’t get healthy by contemplating how sick we are. . . and how bad we feel. Even if you talk about the event while mentioning a desire to change it, you’re still reinforcing the negative event. For instance, you might keep saying to yourself and others, “I keep eating too much ice cream day after day and I need to stop doing that.” Your mind hears “ice cream” and will want more ice cream! It’s far better to think about having a healthy body and to start eating more fruits and vegetables.

Here’s an important qualification: you’re going to find that when you do have a painful experience, whether it’s an illness, the death of a loved one or even losing your job, the wound is raw and you’ll find yourself talking about the incident often. In fact, many people will ask you about it. Thus, talking about it is only natural.

Your mission is to put the event behind you as quickly as possible. In other words, stop thinking and talking about the past event as soon as you can. No one can tell you what length of time is appropriate. It depends on your unique situation. Remember, this isn’t about denial. It’s about moving your life forward in a positive direction.

Today, and in the future, notice when you find yourself thinking and talking about negative conditions or negative experiences of your past. . . unless, of course, you want to reinforce your pain and suffering and create more of it in the days to come. Now’s the time to let go of the past, so you can tell a new, happier story in the future.

By Jeff Keller .

Originally posted at Positive Thoughts