The Hindu Business Line : <I>Attitude plus behaviour = goal </I>

Unhealthy thinking causes unhealthy emotions and attitudes, leading to unhealthy behaviour. The antidote is Healthy Thinking by Tom Mulholland from Wisdom Tree (www.wisdomtreeindia.com).

The book aims to perform `brain surgery without the blood,' says the author, a registered medical practitioner. "You don't need any medications or equipment." All you need are your thoughts and `emotional algebra.' The first formula is, `trigger + thought = emotion.' From this, you can derive that emotion minus trigger is thought. "When you feel an unhealthy emotion, subtract the trigger so you can identify the thought."

What to do if you identify that the thought is `unhealthy' — meaning, it doesn't assist your enjoyment or `lead you anywhere other than unhealthy emotions'? You can elect to stop it, deal with it later, change it, or forget it, counsels Mulholland. "If you want to change it, then you need to understand the following equation: Attitude + behaviour = goal."

Or, in English: `Select the attitude, then action the behaviour, to achieve your goal.' Each situation can trigger seven possible thoughts that could lead to seven different behaviours and outcomes, explains the author. As a result, `Your life could go in 282 million different directions in a day,' if you have just ten triggers a day! "That's what makes life so interesting. We are so obsessed by only one path that we can get distressed if it detours. The trick is to keep changing your thoughts, attitudes and behaviours to keep yourself on track towards your goal."

To those who would like to sit on the chair all day and keep thinking a million thoughts without moving, Mulholland has this message: "A dream without action is a hallucination. You can change your thoughts many times and select many attitudes but you need to actually get off your butt and do something to initiate change and achieve your goal." In short, `Live your dream, don't dream your life.'

Attitude is not a rut you can't get out of. "We change our external clothes every day. Why can't we change what we are like on the inside? You can. If your current attitude isn't working, then change it." If you are still afraid of change, Mulholland suggests that you start slowly. "Instead of watching the same sitcom on television every night, do something different."

A philosophical statement in a chapter titled `practise, practise, practise' is, "Stress is born, lives, and dies between our ears." It may be relaxing to know that life can be like a game of chess. "The more you look, the more options and opportunities open up. If you move a piece one way, it opens up an exponential number of other moves." Rather than getting stressed by the available options that swim in your head, you can derive fun, at times, by trying out what someone else suggests. The key, however, is "to pick which ideas will work and which ones won't."

The book concludes with a discussion of `the ten Cs to success.' Contentment is the tenth C. It is about enjoying the ride, says Mulholland. "You need to be riding in a direction, but enjoying what you see and find along the way. It won't come again... To be successful, you must appreciate what you have, not be miserable about what you don't have."

Prescribed read, for better health.

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Attitude plus behaviour = goal