This article originally appeared on Completed Thoughts.
I feel fortunate to be able to say that most of the time I feel happy and calm, and that is for many reasons. However, this was not always the case and there is one short little phrase which played a major role in transforming my life.
This phrase, and the way I used it, allowed me to go from a life mostly dominated by fear and worry to one characterized by joy, gratitude and peace of mind.
Because of this phrase, I have learned how to instantly banish negative thoughts and feelings. It has so profoundly impacted my life that I want to share with you what this phrase is and exactly how you can use it to create the life you've always wanted.
I know you're probably eager to know what this phrase is, but if you'll first listen to a short story, it will significantly enhance your understanding of the power of this phrase and how you can utilize it to feel much happier and at peace.
Ever since I can recall, I have wanted to understand. When I was a child I immersed myself in the sciences. When I went to college, I studied psychology, in graduate school I studied Asian religions and after graduating, I moved to Asia and did more than my share of traveling and searching.
Somewhere along the way, something simple yet profound happened: I turned my attention inward and started to try to understand myself.
Slowly I came to a realization which dramatically transformed my entire world. I realized that, with practice, I could exert authority over what I think and how I feel.
I began to experiment with this possibility and would tell myself to simply "feel happy." I wanted an immediate change. At first, my brain protested and gave me reasons why I wasn't happy, or shouldn't be happy, or even worse, why I didn't deserve to be happy.
Yet, I persisted in my experimentation.
One day, in the midst of a meditation, suddenly the image popped into my mind of the final scene of the movie "The Matrix" where guns are raised and pointed at the main character Neo. Just before the bullets are fired, Neo declares with absolute confidence, "No."
Now, I was never a huge fan of the movie and it'd been a while since I'd seen it, but the message I took from this thought was simple: speak with authority.
At that moment, my understanding deepened and I said silently to myself, but this time with complete authority, "Be happy."
And an amazing thing happened: I suddenly felt very happy -- instantly.
I became overwhelmed with excitement and tried it again. "Be confident," I declared, and immediately felt myself oozing confidence.
"Be loving!" "Be kind!" "Be grateful!"
One after the other, I created the feelings within me, but not just dim versions of these feelings, I exuded them. When I spoke with absolute authority, my mind and body replied with obedience. I was completely floored.
For months, I practiced this, trying to get better at instantly creating the feelings I wanted. But, unfortunately, many times I fell short of making the change. I felt like I was all over the place, experimenting with all sorts of different feelings, thoughts and emotions.
I knew I needed to focus in, so I asked myself another simple question: What is the best feeling of them all?
The answer came to me immediately: gratitude.
When feeling grateful, one cannot simultaneously have feelings of anger, frustration, worry or fear. Gratitude banishes negative thoughts and feelings.
My goal was to find a way to make it so I could bring about a feeling of gratitude, a truly deep feeling, in an instant and at any time. I tried many things: affirmations, thinking about people I loved, keeping a gratitude journal, etc. All of these helped, but I still had inconsistent results.
I needed something simple and effective.
Then, one day I was reading a book about Zen titled "A Flower Does Not Talk." I read the following story about a female Zen master named Sono:
One day, a fellow Buddhist asked Sono what he could do to put his heart at ease.
Sono replied, "Every morning and every evening, and whenever anything happens to you, keep on saying, 'Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.'"
Coming upon this part, I froze and slowly re-read the phrase.
"Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever."
Bingo! The phrase completely leaped off the page.This was the phrase I needed.
From then on, I simplified things greatly: anytime I felt any negative emotion or wished to feel positive feelings, I would say this phrase to myself.
Sometimes the sense of gratitude came immediately, other times it took a few repetitions, but it always came. And ever since then, I have used this simple, yet powerful, phrase to banish worry, fear, anger and negativity from my life.
So, whenever you're not feeling so great, or you just want to feel even better, say, out loud ideally:
"Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever."
I urge you to try saying it right now, 3 times, out loud. Really let yourself feel it.
We all know that mental and emotional habits can be difficult to change, but it can be done. The more you practice it, the more effective it will be.
In this way, you can take back your life, and declare it to be one of happiness, peace and gratitude.
There is no room for negativity inside a grateful mind.
Explore life with the author at Completed Thoughts and share in his gratitude at Good Morning My Love. Follow Richard Kronick on Facebook.