Reams of research have shown positive thinking to be good for your health. A positive attitude and optimistic thinking are healthy. The power of positive thinking is shows that those who remain positive are healthier, live longer, and report greater satisfaction with life than those who might be labeled pessimistic.

But, what about negative thinking?

Here's a story about how negative thinking can affect your health. (I'll have to paraphrase it; I heard it off a seminar by Bob Procter.)

One night a night watch man was patrolling a railway yard to check that no one was breaking into the containers and stealing the contents of them.

He came across a container that had its door open. He walked over cautiously to see what was going on and could find no sign of life around so he took a quick look inside.

The container was empty, but as he walked in the door of the container closed behind him and he found himself locked in. he pushed on the door for a while to see if it would open but it was completely stuck. He then started to yell for help but there was no answer.

As he resigned himself to being looked in the container he started to look around and noticed that the container he was in wasn't a normal but that he was locked in one a refrigerated one.

After a while he noticed that he was getting colder and colder. Because he didn't think he was going to get help any time soon he decided to write on the wall of the container to tell of his experience.

He wrote that he was getting colder and colder and starting to lose feeling in his body.

After a couple of hours it got harder for him to write but his last comments he wrote that he was going to die soon because it was so cold.

The container was opened later that morning by some work men who found the night watch man dead body in the corner.

If I finished this article you would say it was a tragic accident and it would be, but the tragic part is that the container the night watch man locked himself in was having maintenance done it that day. The part that was broken on the container was the refrigeration mechanism.

The temperature inside the container that night was no different to the temperature outside.

So what caused the man to die? Was it his thinking? Had the negative thoughts he was having about his situation caused him to give up his will to live?

You may have your theories, but I think you can see that not matter the situation you find yourself your thoughts either positive or negative can affect how you deal with your problems whether real or imaginary.