Excerpt from "Change Your life in 7 Days"

Adapted from Change Your Life in7 Days (Sterling Publishing) By Paul McKenna, PhD.
Excerpted with permission from Change Your Life in 7 Days © 2013 by Paul McKenna, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

This technique is one of the most powerful in the whole book, and everyone can benefit from it. I first began using it in 1990, and I almost immediately noticed a remarkable upturn in my confidence and ability to solve problems and reach my goals.

We have already seen that the more often we repeat a pattern of behavior, the stronger that pattern becomes. When we indulge in negativity over the years, we literally hardwire ourselves to be negative.

For the rest of the week, you are going to interrupt that pattern. You are going to starve yourself of negativity and retrain yourself to be more positive instead. Don’t just read this, LIVE IT FOR THE NEXT WEEK. This process alone will rewrite the operating software of your mind—it’s a process that will serve you well for the rest of your life!

Here’s how it works:

For the next week, whenever you feel bad about anything, stop what you’re doing (as soon as it is safe to do so) and follow these five easy steps. . . .

THE NEGATIVITY FAST

1. Ask yourself what you are feeling bad about and notice what image, sound, or words come to mind.

Remember, your emotions are like signals, letting you know when you need to pay extra attention to some aspect of your experience. Every feeling in your body is linked to an internal picture, sound, or the words you say to yourself in your mind.

2. Listen for the message or positive intention of the emotion.

Negative emotions are just messengers sent by your mind and body to let you know it’s time to pay attention to something. For example, if I have a worrying feeling and I stop and notice, what comes to mind is the image of an upcoming meeting. My mind is trying to alert me to things that might go wrong in that meeting and make sure I am well prepared.

3. Act on the message!

So, in our example, I might make a list of all the things I can do to stop those problems occurring, and take action on at least one of them.

4. Turn off the messenger.

This is like hanging up the phone or resetting the smoke alarm. When I’ve heeded my mind’s warning, I drain all the color out of the image, shrink it down to the size of a postage stamp and send it off into the distance. If the picture pops back, it’s because there’s still something you need to be aware of, so find out what it is.

5. Program your desired future.

Finally, imagine events going exactly the way you want them to. In the example of my upcoming meeting, I make a big, bright movie of the meeting going perfectly and watch it all the wayup to the happy ending.

Test this amazing process out now for yourself . . .

1. Think about something that makes you feel bad, and notice what image comes to mind. As you pay attention to that image, notice:

• Is it color or black and white?

• Where is it located? Is it in front of you? Or to the left or right?

• Is it big or small?

• Is it a movie, or is it a still image?

• Is it a solid image, or transparent?

• Is there any sound with this image?

2. Now STOP! All of this information is what gives the bad feeling its power,  and you were unconscious of it going on until a moment ago.

So now you are aware of it, we’re going to ask what its intention is. What message does the emotion want to give you?

3. Now, take a few moments to brainstorm some ways you can solve those problems. If you have time, you can write down some notes. If not, just ask your unconscious mind to remind you at the next available opportunity.

4. Then, drain all the color out of the image, shrink it, and move it off into the distance. If it happens to reappear, ask yourself if there’s anything you’ve missed, then just drain the color out again, shrink it so it’s small, and move it far away once again.

5. Finally, take a few moments to imagine your life as you would ideally like it to be. How do you want to be? What kinds of things would you like to do? What would you most want to have?

With every new habit we take on, there is a “tipping point”—that point at which it becomes easier to exercise than not; easier to eat healthily than to eat unhealthily; easier to think rich than to think poor.

Every time you practice, you will get benefits, but you will only get the most amazing benefits of this technique if you practice it right up to and over the tipping point. Use it every time you feel bad about anything for the next week. Through the sheer repetition of this technique, you will totally recondition yourself for success. You will become more positive, energized, and optimistic. You will start to look at life with more optimism, seeing opportunities to succeed and achieve in situations where before you saw only fear, failure, and “more of the same.”

Paul McKenna, PhD, is an international bestselling self-help author whose books have sold more than six million copies and been translated into 32 languages. Recognized by The Times of London as one of “the world's most important modern self-help gurus,” Dr. McKenna has appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Rachael Ray, and The Dr. Oz Show. He is regularly watched on TV by hundreds of millions of people in 42 countries around the world. He lives in Los Angeles.

Available at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Life-Days-Make/dp/1402765738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369944009&sr=8-1&keywords=change+your+life+in+7+days

or Barnes &Noble online: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/change-your-life-in-7-days-paul-mckenna/1007545726?ean=9781402765735