Positive thinking has a new advocate these days. Dr. David R. Hawkins is a leading psychiatrist who has published numerous books about the power of positive thinking as well as the power of many forms of thought and spiritual teachings.  Using the findings of kinesiology, Dr. Hawkins has made it easier to determine the power of positive thinking versus negative thinking and has shown how many people can alter their lives for the better.  By using certain muscle testing techniques, Dr. Hawkins kinesiological research has helped to determine that certain systems of thought are actually more powerful than others in promoting the health and well being of all people.

According to the studies done with kinesiology, various statements, teachings, teachers and subjects of interest all carry a certain energy field along with their subject matter.  When these different topics are held in mind by individuals, the reactions of their muscles are then monitored and can determine various strengths and levels of power in the fields present.  Through the observation of the muscles reactions, scientists can determine if the individual statements evoke a positive reaction in the muscles or not.  This has been shown to be useful in determining the actual power of some statements as opposed to others and of various persons, places or things as they affect the energy meridians in the body.  The research is extremely beneficial to those who have examined the findings and has even spurned more studies which are all continuing today.

Dr. Hawkins has gone even further with his research than the simple testing of statements and their relative power.  He has devised a scale of consciousness which can actually be used to determine the level of power for anything anywhere and he has used the reaction of the muscles to determine those levels of power according to the science of kinesiology.  First, a scale of power was set up from 0 to 1000 and tested subjects were told that zero represented the absolutely lowest level or “no power” range.  The highest level at 1000 represented the most power possible level for a human being to be capable of acquiring and the scale was set up as logarithmic so that it was representative of an increase in terms of exponential increments. Many statements, patterns of thought and even teachings were all proven again and again to have a certain level of power according to their kinesiological response in the body.

In terms of the power of positive thinking, there have been many teachers and teachings which have been reported to score very high on the consciousness scale. Among some of the higher numbers were teachers such as the Buddha, Jesus and Krishna who all scored very high with all test subjects.  Similarly, many Eastern teachers such as Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and Muktananda all scored in the 600’s and 700’s in terms of the way peoples bodies reacted to the teachings. The word “love” has consistently scored extremely high at 500 and the word “peace” was also scored at 600. These findings were astounding and have become part of a widespread study and a series of publications which are now very popular in many countries. It is clear from these findings that there is an inherent power to positive thinking which can actually have a physical affect on your body if it is repeated and made to become part of your lifestyle. The findings of Dr. Hawkins suggest a number of things, one of which is that nothing is thought to have come about as a result of an accident or a “random” occurrence.  Each thing carries with it a field of energy which largely affects the outcome of its existence. With the discovery that everything carries with it a certain level of power, it is also the case that nothing can be said to be part of an accident unless we were to ignore the recently discovered designations that have been made upon these various objects or thought patterns.  Individual people themselves can be tested to be holding a certain amount of energy or “power” such that the reactions of the muscles can also show this level of power in many circumstances.  With this discovery, brings the obvious conclusion that, not only are certain thoughts more or less powerful but everything which is capable of being held in mind is subject to a certain test of power.

The recent discoveries by Dr. David R. Hawkins are groundbreaking and the future holds many bright possibilities for the progress of our own well being and health in this field.  If you are interested in learning more about these discoveries, check out some of the most recent findings in Dr. Hawkins book Truth Vs. Falsehood; How to Tell the Difference. It will surely give you some new insights into the power of positive thinking.

Positive thinking and affirmations are a great beginning to get you on a more positive path in life.  A Course in Miracles is an especially great book for helping you to begin this new life.  Many people find, however, that this course is simply not enough.  After completing the course over the period of one year, they find that they want to start again and go through it another year or even more. The important thing to recognize is that positive thinking is only the beginning of a larger and more comprehensive spiritual path.  It requires positive energy to undertake a spiritual course because overcoming challenges takes effort and strength.  As you gain energy, you will naturally call up greater and greater challenges for confrontation.

People who suffer from low self image or negative thinking often carry with them a core idea that they are a “victim” of the world and they feel that they have somehow been cheated.  They point their finger at others in order to feel better about themselves.  The use of positive self affirmations is a great way to overcome this victim kind of thinking but it is only the beginning.  These affirmations and positive patterns of thought can sometimes be misused as a way of asserting ourselves against an “imaginary enemy”.  This turning of ourselves against the negativity of the world can merely strengthen the illusion that there is something out there that is negative and worth fighting against.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Negativity, in and of itself is nothing.  It does not have an independent existence but is really better thought of as a simple lack of positive thinking.  Moving beyond the duality of Positive and negative is what it means to move “beyond positive thinking” . There is nothing out there that is trying to hurt us. This idea has been stuck in our minds and is part of an illusion that merely needs to be let go of rather than “battled”.  Using positive thinking as weapon or a tool is not the way that self affirmations were meant to be used.

There is a victim mentality in many of us who suffer from negative thinking which tends to keep us feeling sorry for ourselves.  We may even get a secret enjoyment by thinking of ourselves as the cheated or downtrodden which makes it easier for us to be enamored of ourselves. It doesn’t really help us in the long run to hold enemies in our minds because it merely keeps the old cycle going wherein we view ourselves as a victim and continue to feel like there is a perpetrator out there trying to destroy us.   We remain similar to the way we have always been and the self affirmations eventually have no more effect.  In order to make a real change and to utilize the true power of self affirmation, we need to look more closely at the manner in which we see ourselves as a “victim” in the world.  This victim psychology must also be let go of if the more positive self affirmations are to truly raise a persons self esteem. This is what it means to move beyond positive thinking.

Although we love to see ourselves in a positive light all the time, it is also good to keep our humility. It should be enough for us to simply view ourselves as exactly what we are, rather than insisting on seeing ourselves as somehow “better” than what we actually are.  We don’t need to engineer elaborate ideas in our minds which make us appear like something more.  We are good enough just as we are!

Rather than believing we are bad and working very hard to “increase” our self esteem, moving beyond positive thinking means finding a useful strategy  to simply become comfortable with exactly what is.  We can sit still in our chairs and observe who we are at any given moment.  This is actually the meaning of moving beyond positive thinking and can be practiced in disciplined meditation.

Although positive thinking is useful for getting us away from the destructive behavior we may have fallen into, it is not the end-all solution to raising our self esteem.  Over the course of time, we can begin to see ourselves as perfectly acceptable just the way we are.  We no longer need to “fight” against others to win our self esteem.  We can feel confident that we are ok and have found a new way to live.

With all the new interest in changing people’s thinking toward the more positive, a new magazine has even cropped up which is entirely devoted to the art and science of positive thinking. Positive Thinking Magazine is a great new publication that will really give you some new ideas and keep you on task about your new commitment to become more positive. This is a magazine made up of people who are a lot like you. They prescribe to the belief that your life tends to turn out very similar to the way you imagine it is going to turn out. If you want that to be different, you have to change the way you think! It’s as simple as that. (more…)