Positive Thinking, Positive Living E-Book

Dr David Fong

• Herausgeber: Geddes and Grosset
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

No rash claims; no miracle cures; a sensible, practical way to improve your life through positive thinking

Das E-Book Positive Thinking, Positive Living wird angeboten von Geddes and Grosset und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:
Self-help, Cognitive behavioural therapy, self-confidence

Leseprobe

This book is dedicated to my parents and family, who I love very much, and who I refuse to blame for anything except buying me a football for my ninth birthday instead of the motorised Batmobile I wanted. It is also dedicated to the various friendly bears, aliens and kats (sic) that have enhanced my life.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Introduction

Is your life story going to be a gripping bestseller or a resignation letter?

So why is this book any different from the others?

Chapter One – New Rules

In which we discover the true costs of three TVs, microwave ovens and stress

Hands up everyone who is perfectly happy!

Don’t panic

Learning how to juggle

So where do I start?

Why don’t we make changes?

Chapter Two – Why Do We Make Things Difficult For Ourselves?

In which we discover who our worst enemy is

The Negative Command Centre

The Voice of Reason versus the Negative Command Centre

Where do negative thoughts come from?

Event/Interpretation

Back to the beginning . . .

Chapter Three – Blame

In which a friendly alien asks us an important question

Which rules do you live by?

Problems with blame and guilt

Slaves to shoulds, musts and oughts

Mind-reading

What tangled webs we weave . . .

Chapter Four – The Miracle of the Super-clean Tenner

In which we start to shape our lives, take responsibility and create a miracle or two

How to make a miracle

Responsibility, doughnuts and bagels

Consequences revisited

What is the miracle of the super-clean tenner?

Chapter Five – Stop, Be Still and Listen

In which we meet the Hunchback of Notre Dame

With apologies to Victor Hugo . . .

Some more cock-eyed definitions

Reframing

But it sounds so difficult . . .

Goal set

Watch your language!

Be pointlessly happy

Chapter Six – Imagination

In which we start to let things go

Meeting the monkeys

Human beings and monkeys

Visualisation

Antidotes to stress and tension

Relaxation

Giving your relaxation muscles a workout

Taking our brains to the sauna

Chapter Seven – Communication Matters

In which we learn lots of clever acronyms and get what we want from relationships

Relationships

Rescue remedies for the romantically ropey

Communication, not telepathy

Communication matters

Assertiveness – what it is and what it isn’t

Comparing aggression, passivity and assertiveness

Chapter Eight – Troubleshooting Off Days

In which we learn the difference between being patient and prevaricating

Why do we have Off Days?

Diet and fitness

Smoking

Coping with a broken heart

Retirement and unemployment

Parenting

Chapter Nine – Let’s Go a Bit Crazy

In which we learn a thing or two from eight year olds

Happily crazy

Limits

Childishness as a compliment

Chapter Ten – All Good Things . . .

In which the author attempts to summarise and ends up struggling with a metaphor

Changing the record

Listening to the music in a different way

Look out for the miracles

Start making positive connections

Describing the music in a different way

Experiencing the music differently

Setting the hi-fi up

Turn the volume UP!

Appendix One – Useful addresses

Appendix Two – A different kind of bibliography

About the Author

Other Books in this Series

A Guide to Diabetes

A Guide to Headaches and Migraines

A Guide to Backpain

Healing Foods

Live Longer, Extend Your Life

How to Look Great on any Budget

Understanding Phobias

Copyright

Is your life story going to be a gripping bestseller or a resignation letter?

When I was a little boy, my comic books were full of advertisements at the back that promised me “A perfect body in 10 days or your money back!” Needless to say, I am still waiting, both for my perfect body and for my money back. Nowadays, as well as ordering physical perfection from the back pages of a magazine, you can find bookshop shelves creaking with titles that offer you emotional and spiritual completion at the drop of a hat. You can “Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway”, drink “Chicken Soup For The Soul” and take a hundred other different remedies that are on offer for those who like neither soup nor fear. Needless to say, people don’t seem to be getting any happier.

So why is this book any different from the others?

Firstly, this book doesn’t offer you Nirvana in a week. The techniques and ideas outlined in it work, but their success depends on you. The main theme of this book is that you are responsible for your life and all that happens in it: the successes, the failures, the triumphs and the disasters. It is neither a psychology manual nor a religious textbook. I don’t make any claims to it being a guide to spiritual wellbeing. Instead, this book will act as a support for you, but it will assume that you will do all the hard work. Hopefully, some of your ideas about the world and about yourself will be shaken up a little along the way.

Secondly, this book assumes that you live in the real world. If you live in a reality where everyone is blissfully happy and the idea of having a problem with something is considered quaint, then this little tome is not for you. Likewise, if you never have to worry about what the kids are going to want for their dinner; why your girlfriend isn’t talking to you any more or why you are crying all the time, then this isn’t the volume for you. But . . . if you find that time is flying and you’re getting older but not wiser; if those unfinished projects are still unfinished; if the relationship that was going to be different from the last one ended in tears that were just as painful, then welcome! You’re in the right place.

Thirdly, the ideas and exercises in this book are designed to be practical, fun and different, but with a serious point attached to them. That doesn’t mean that this is a complicated academic textbook. The only qualifications that you need to use this book are:

A desire to change something in your life and a willingness to try something new

A sense of humour

The belief that life is often not the way that you would want it to be

If any or all of these apply to you, then I hope you stick around and see what awaits you in the pages to come. If this isn’t for you, then, that’s fine – I won’t be bitter. If you’re not sure, why not flick through the pages at random, stop at any one that takes your fancy and see what it has to say to you? Interesting things can happen when we take even the smallest of chances.

Chapter One

New Rules

In which we discover the true costs of three TVs, microwave ovens and stress

Hands up everyone who is perfectly happy!

Unless youve been taking your holidays on Mars for the last few years, you will have noticed that the society that we are all a part of has been changing very rapidly. Some of these changes have been obvious and some less so, but they all have something in common they have altered and shaped our lifestyles in some fundamental ways.