1. Positive self-talk
“Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts,” states Hamlet in Shakespeare’s most famous
play pertaining to the human mind. Hamlet is ensnared in indecision because his
head is full of thoughts. Sometimes the thoughts convey one thing, sometimes
another. Hamlet cannot act with clarity and purpose because he cannot get beyond
the self-talk inside his own mind. My subjective opinion is that thoughts are like a
double-edged sword: They can be the best of our friends or the worst of our
enemies.
Self-talk is a constant, silent dialogue that runs in your head. Your self-
talk can be an internal pampering friend or an internal naysayer. Whichever way
you slice it, self-talk is the controlling force of your life. Self-talk needs to be
monitored regularly, as more than 60,000 thoughts go through our brains each day.
According to psychological researchers, such talk is 77% negative.
So, spice up your life with routine bouts of positive self-talk. Make it your second
nature.
To escape the hubbub of the city, two friends went to a shingle beach. One friend
was a drill instructor, the other a grammarian. The drill instructor said to the
grammarian, “Two dogs live inside me. One is a gray dog that is the
personification of negative qualities. The other is a white dog that has a joyful
nature. The gray dog is always trying to trample over the white dog.” The
grammarian asked, “Who wins?” The drill instructor answered, “Whomever I feed
the most.”
Record your positive self-talk on a tape and listen to it –
(1) While lounging
(2) When traveling
(3) After getting up in the morning
(4) When going to bed at night
(5) When you work out in the mornings

2. Negative self-talk vs. positive self-talk
A young man took up engineering as a career option, purely and simply for
the lure of money. As the days went on, he began to realize that excelling in his
studies was no walk in the park. He thought, “What hell this engineering life has
been for me. So much information to read in hardly any time! When am I going to
get some time for fun and play? Huh, I am so stupid.” These thoughts knocked the
stuffing out of him. He could not get past two semesters and quit his studies.
Another guy took up engineering out of interest in the subject. In a word, he
was in love with this field of study. No wonder he did not get carried away by the
volume of pages to be covered. He thought, “This is a great opportunity to work
hard and come out with flying colors. I have the resolve to succeed.” He completed
his course with outstanding grades. To take his dream to the next level, he went to
New York City for postgraduate study.
Rubber band snap: When Blaine was a kid, he was raised in a protective
bubble. He “strolled” in sidewalk versions of sport utility vehicles and learned to
swim in UV protective full-body suits. At age 16, one day, Blaine went to his
mother (who was toasting her feet at the fireplace) to ask her for sage advice in
limiting negative thoughts. She said, “Walk around with a rubber band around your
wrist. The moment you run into negative self-talk, gently pull the band away from
your skin and allow it to snap back. It will cause a little bit of pain, but it will bring
your thoughts to your attention and help you to stop them.” Blaine thanked his
mother with an impromptu song.
Be super-selective in absorbing the news
Today, we have reached a point where television news channels offer a
mouth-watering menu of items ranging from parochial scandals to speculative
fantasies about Britleen or Collney’s superego. Television news also purveys
secondhand news that is repeatedly repackaged and regurgitated by overworked
desk-bound hacks. This is an era in which television news channels are jostling for
more TRPs and viewership. Not to be left behind is the print media. Filthy,
voyeuristic paparazzi are taking a toll on many celebrities. Wanton interference of
media in celebs’ lives is not at all good.

3. Do not absorb the negative, insensitive sensationalism of media. It does not
help even the slightest bit, but it does manage to touch a raw nerve in you and fill
your mind with a barrage of stinking thoughts.
Affirmations
What do you require to log in to computer accounts; retrieve email from servers:
access programs, databases, networks, and websites; and even read the morning
newspaper online?
Your password, of course! A password represents an individual’s identity for a
system. It acts like a barrier between the user and his personal information. If you
have to type your password many times a day, why not make the password user-
friendly? Why not make the password a positive affirmation? From here on, for my
convenience I will use the plural form of “affirmation,” which is “affirmations.”
Affirmations are positive statements (written, spoken, or read) that make an inroad
into your thought process. They replace a surfeit of negative thoughts embedded in
your mind with new, positive, and powerful thoughts. Affirmations are like super
wonders. They work best when you repeat them while in a tranquil state of mind
and body. Affirmations need to be orchestrated in an intelligent way to obtain the
desired results.
We can use affirmations for health, abundance, love, weight loss, self-
esteem, peace and harmony, joy, and happiness. We can use affirmations to stave
off fury, sadness, and tedium.
Power of affirmations
Peyton is a top-notch, revered film director. In a career spanning over two
decades, he has made 27 films. (Peyton always used creative liberty to good
effect.) To date, the unadjusted gross of all films directed by Peyton exceeds $4
billion worldwide. He has three richly deserved Oscar awards to his name. Prior
to becoming a film director, he professed exuberantly and with confidence, “I
am the most commercially successful director of all time.” Consequently, he
demonstrated this reality by achieving superstardom in filmmaking. Peyton
made good use of the concept of “affirmations.”

4. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his work.
Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th
century.
Structuring of affirmations
(1) Define the affirmations that are useful at this moment in time.
(2) Right from the beginning, use an ebullient tone to construct affirmations.
Avoid words like “not,” “won’t,” etc.
(3) Have a special time and place for your affirmations. Recite them on a
regular basis. It helps to make incremental improvement in your life. If an
affirmation feels stale, change it or trash it, and start over.
(4) Make the affirmations in a lucid way. Personalize them with your name.
(5) Write the affirmations on index cards and put them in your wallet, on the
dashboard of your car, in your briefcase…
Have patience
When you create an affirmation in your mind, it takes some time to kick in.
During this phase, you need to be cool as a cucumber and wait. Mental
discipline, too, plays a seminal role.
One day I made an affirmation, “I am organized.” I frequently repeated it
with strong emotional involvement like, “It will definitely happen.” In the course
of time, it influenced my subconscious mind. Guess what? My life got a renewal
(comparable to a ramshackle building getting a makeover). I organized the things
strewn all over my desk in a filing system or a bookcase. I set the printer and fax
machine on a rolling cart. I kept a picture of my loved ones on my desk. I added
artwork to my office walls by hanging a picture of a peaceful scene painted in soft
blues and greens. I bought popular houseplants—anthurium, dieffenbachia,
philodendron, and syngonium—to create ambience and improve the air quality. By
doing these things, I gave a whole new meaning to the word “orderliness.”
It took three weeks to turn my affirmation into a reality.

5. Passing remark: To start with, an affirmation is only skin-deep. But it can gain
strength and sink into your subconscious mind with everyday actions.
Remember, “When you dovetail affirmations with action steps, you’ll achieve
success.”
Sample affirmation statements:
(1) Every relationship of mine is invigorating like a whiff of fresh air.
(2) Getting into a virgin territory and learning new things excites me.
(3) I’ll learn another language. It is all grist for the mill when it comes to
getting a job.
(4) It is beneath me to cheat.
(5) I am technologically literate.