The Power of Positive Affirmations

I woke up a few nights ago in the middle of the night. I was having a restless night and when I woke up I distinctively heard a voice in my head, saying 'Are you really adding value?'

I had been dreaming about my job, about a presentation I was to hold in a few days to the CEO, giving him an update on the projects I am leading.

The weird part was... how much the voice was clear, how clearly I heard it in my head but as if someone was inside my head whispering it to me. With hindsight, this brought back to me memories of the book 'The power of now' by Eckhart Tolle (http://eckharttolle.com/the_power_of_now). In this book, Eckhart describes how one day, lying in bed, during a rough stage in his life, he heard a voice constantly repeating in his head: 'I cannot live with myself any longer.' He then realised how peculiar this thought was and questioned himself: Am I one or two? If he could not live with himself, than he must be two. the 'I' and the 'self' he cannot live with!
This realization stopped his mind, suddenly he was fully conscious but with his mind free of thoughts. Full of energy, no fear. This was a turning point, recognising this incessant chatter in his mind.

We all suffer from it. I've realised it from time to time, the incessant flow of thinking in our minds... sometimes critical, sometimes afraid, sometimes buoyant. But not real.

I am still learning how to deal with it. Becoming more mindful is also about quietening your mind chatter. About just being, in a state of full acceptance, in the present moment.

Preparing for my presentation, what I found really helpful was repeating to myself positive affirmations! Ideally, we should aim for mindfulness but since for most of us 'non awakened' this is hard... a good solution is to fill the mind with positive affirmations!!!
If the mind is to talk, might as well be positive!!!

PS - My presentation went really well and yes, the voice in my mind was deceitful... I proved how much value I was adding to the business.

Continued

And what I've learned from that book is linked somewhat to what some now very popular books like 'The Secret' from Rhonda Byrne are preaching... What you think is what you attract, focus on positive thinking.

Interesting, the insight is quite simple, be aware of your thougths! If you are aware, you will often realize that most of the negative thougths are quite unrealistic! Sometimes we paint some negative scenarios in our minds that are high unlikely to ever happen!
On the positive side, these thoughts are useful as their purpose is to protect us from hurt, from wrong decisions, etc. But on the other side, most of them are unrealistic and will only prevent us from doing things, taking action, taking control of our life and moving it forward!

Practical benefits of meditation

I am reading the book 'The leaders way: business, budhism and happiness in an interconnected world', by the Dalai Lama and the business consultand Laurens van den Muyzenberg. Quite a good book, exploring the touching points between budhism and business and how business leaders can benefit from budhist learnings.

I took out quite an interesting learning yesterday from this book, that helped me see meditation in a more practical way. Meditation is presented as a way to reach more mindfulness. Mindfulness meaning greater awareness of your thoughts. And if you are more aware of your thoughts, you can acknowledge the negative ones and therefore begin to erradicate them. Negative thoughts are damaging.

I find it pretty cool as it gives meditation a practical spin. I am quite motivated by objectives, and having this awareness of how meditation can practically help is really helpful for me.