One of the major characteristics shared by nearly all of those people who are in the 95% of the population not experiencing the lives they desire is the propensity to have richly developed negative mental attitudes. A characteristic shared by nearly all people in the 5% who live their dreams is they have richly developed positive mental attitudes or PMA.

If you want to know how pervasive negative attitudes are, take a few minutes and listen, really listen to the conversations going on around you on a daily basis. Turn your attention away from your own inner self talk and pay close attention to others. Half the day or maybe the whole day might pass without you hearing one conversation that indicates that someone with PMA is speaking.

Just what is a positive mental attitude? What is a negative mental attitude? Which do you have? How do you know which you have? Before I give you the definitions that I have adopted, I ask you to pause a moment and think about how you would describe your overall mental attitude.

The PMA definition I adopted and practice was provided by Dr. Dennis Waitley, author of The Psychology of Winning, who said that A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE IS THE (CONSISTENT) EXPECTATION OF THE BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME IN ANY AND ALL SITUATIONS. This is not an attitude of merely wishing or hoping. A positive mental attitude is a state of positive expectancy at such a high level that it borders upon certainty. Developing PMA is the cornerstone for mastering your mind power.

A negative mental attitude I define as consistent expectation of the worse outcome in most situations. A certain indicator of the presence of a negative mental attitude is when you hear people talk about how they hope for the best but expect the worse related to a particular situation, or they hope for the best and prepare for the worse.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki says that people in the 95% of the population, who he calls poor, live in perpetual fear. By the way, rich and poor are the only two financial classes of people in his world. Nearly all of the decisions poor people make are motivated by fear, primarily the fear of losing.

Events unfolding in the financial markets around the world, during the final weeks of September of 2008, have spawned fear so thick that you can almost cut it with a knife. Here is something you should consider. Fear cannot be sustained in a mind where PMA resides.

Imagine how powerful and wonderful it is, or would be, to stare down this financial turmoil with PMA; to positively know along with Napoleon Hill that EVERY ADVERSITY (INCLUDING THIS ONE) CARRIES WITHIN IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT OR GREATER BENEFIT (for those people with PMA); and to expect the best possible outcome in this situation.

You have just had two very powerful affirmations handed to you. There is absolutely no better time than right now to start repeating them without ceasing as is written in the Christian Bible as related to prayer.

Also make sure you have a big, worthy goal toward which you are moving. Do not be sidetracked by the so-called evidence screaming at you from the television and newspapers. Believe in yourself. Trust yourself to make good decisions. The same power that guided Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, and Napoleon Hill on their journeys resides within you right now, in this moment, to guide you on your journey.

This I know for sure. You can claim or re-claim control of your own mind power. You are the most miraculous of all living beings on earth. You are the owner of a mind that is so stupendous, that as you truly begin mastering your mind power and consciously using it, there is no dream that you can dream that you cannot achieve.