What you think and how you think makes a huge the difference in the outcome of your life.  When your life is hanging by a thread, the weight of negative thinking can break the thread.

When I was lying in the intensive care unit with two broken legs, a broken scapula, five broken ribs, a pneumothorax, a hemothorax, and a blood transfusion running into my veins, positive thinking made a difference.

Because I am a physician, I was fully aware of the problems and complications stalking my bedside.  The major long bone fractures could cause fat embolism to the lungs.  The seven units of blood running into my veins could cause hepatitis or AIDS.  The partially collapsed lung could cause pneumonia.  Prolonged bed rest creates a risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.  Fractures may not heal, and infection in the fracture sites could result in disastrous osteomyelitis.  I have seen all of these complications happen to victims of trauma, and they’re not uncommon.  Fortunately, none of these complications happened anywhere except in my mind.

When I was flat on my back in the intensive care unit, I had to decide if I was going to listen to the voice of fear and negativity, and make a bad experience worse by filling my mind full of fear.

Doctors frequently are bad patients because they know too much about their problems, and that knowledge adds to their burden.  I was fortunate to have excellent care and a supportive family who helped me deal with this experience in a positive manner.

Major disasters that traumatize your physical body teach you about positive thinking in a special way.  When you feel great and your body is healthy, it’s easy to think positive.  But when you have been run over by the Mack Truck of Life, positive thinking is difficult.  When it takes six months to be able to walk without crutches, thinking positive is a major challenge.  When your plans are on hold, and you aren’t sure if you will be able to continue your dream, thinking positive is hard.  When recovery from a physical disaster takes a year or two, thinking positive is put in a radically different perspective.

Mental recovery may be even more difficult than physical recovery.  Physical therapy may restore your physiology, but restoring a positive mind may seem to be an insurmountable challenge.

As a physician, I was acquainted with suffering, but it was only a distant relative who never came to visit.  When I experienced it myself, I found that suffering looks different from the inside.  When you observe someone else suffer, it’s easy to tell them to think positive.  But when you’re the one doing the suffering, it takes all of your resources to think a few positive thoughts each day.  When you are in pain, your body shouts an unremitting stream of negative discouraging thoughts, while your mind timidly whispers a few positive ones.  Your mind whistles in the dark hoping light is on the way and the nightmare will soon be over.

When the body is unhealthy or severely traumatized, the mind suffers as well.  I have intense admiration for people with disabilities who remain positive and fully involved in life.  For them staying positive is like climbing Mount Everest every day.

Excerpt from :

Zero Tolerance To Negative Thinking : Good-by Depression - Hello Positive Mind

David J Abbott M.D.