Emmet Fox's "Seven Day Mental Diet" challenges readers to consciously reject every negative thought for seven consecutive days. This concept, while simple, has resonated with many seeking to improve their mental and emotional well-being. This article delves into the core principles of the diet, its potential benefits, practical considerations, and a balanced perspective on its effectiveness.
Core Principles
The central idea of this book is to spend a week consciously attempting to let negative thoughts go as they come up, without dwelling on them, in order to foster the habit of thinking positively. The core principle revolves around the idea that "thought is the real causative force in life." It emphasizes that you shall not entertain, or dwell upon negative things. It is not the thoughts that come to you that matter, but only such of them as you choose to entertain and dwell upon. It does not matter what thoughts may come to you provided you do not entertain them. It is the entertaining or dwelling upon them that matters.
The Practice
The diet involves a dedicated effort to cultivate a positive mindset by actively rejecting negative thoughts. When a negative thought floats into your mind, immediately turn it out and think of something else. Don't let anything said or done by anyone else throw you off the diet - only your own reaction to the other person's conduct can do that.
Mindfulness and Meditation
Begin each day with a period of quiet meditation or contemplation. Take time to focus your mind and clear it of negative thoughts.
Positive Affirmations
Make a conscious effort to speak and think positively throughout the day, avoiding complaining or speaking negatively about others.
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Gratitude
Practice gratitude by making a list of things that you are thankful for.
Forgiveness
Practice forgiveness by letting go of grudges and resentment towards others.
Visualization
Use visualization techniques to focus your mind on positive outcomes and goals.
Acts of Kindness
Practice acts of kindness towards others, even if it is something small.
Daily Review
End each day with a review of your progress and a commitment to continuing the mental diet for another day.
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Benefits of the 7 Day Mental Diet
Improved Mental and Emotional Well-being
The diet is intended to be a holistic program that helps individuals develop a more positive outlook on life, cultivate mental and emotional well-being.
Habit Formation
A key selling point is the idea that, “If you change your mind, your conditions must change, too … This does not simply mean that you will be able to face your present difficulties in a better spirit; it means that the difficulties will go.” One way or another, any reasonable person could surely appreciate how beneficial it must be to develop a habit of choosing never to harbour unresourceful thoughts. And this is a great path of encouragement to such a habit. He suggests that if you think only good and productive thoughts for 7 straight days you can break yourself of the bad habit of thinking negatively.
Increased Self-Awareness
It isn't easy if you genuinely and whole heartily do it - not letting your mind entertain, react of dwell on any negative thought - it really shows what that can mean and impacts your life. It helps you to see your own results will motivate you to implement it daily beyond the 7 days.
Enhanced Coping Mechanisms
The practices in this book shows everyone how to cope with life in general. It’s a book on how to cleanse yourself but also what to do and expect when you begin your journey.
Practical Considerations
Acknowledging Negative Thoughts
Being positive doesn't mean you won't have negative thoughts. This little book is very brief yet long enough for you to understand that you are human, you have both negative and positive thoughts and its up to you to decide which one of them you entertain and dwell upon. It doesn't mean you ignore the negative thoughts to be positive, it means you just have to acknowledge their existence and focus on something else, something that relaxes your mind a bit.
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Difficulty and Dedication
Fox does not sugarcoat how hard this is to do. It is very challenging to complete. It’s pretty energy demanding exercise that requires quite a dedication and patience since doing 7 days of positive thoughts after thinking my self-doubting, criticizing etc thoughts is a significant change. If you accidentally think of something negative you must start over completely. Skip a few days and start the "diet" over.
External Influences
Many negative thoughts ‘will come to you all day long. Some of them will just drift into your mind of their own accord seemingly, and these come to you out of the race mind. Other negative thoughts will be given to you by other people, either in conversation or by their conduct, or you will hear disagreeable news perhaps by letter or telephone, or you will see crimes and disasters announced in the newspaper headings. These things, however, do not matter as long as you do not entertain them. In fact, it is these very things that provide the discipline that is going to transform you during this epoch-making week.
Integration with Other Practices
I think mindfulness/meditation is something that would help towards mastering this long term.
Criticisms and Alternative Perspectives
Overly Simplistic Approach
The message is your regular "change your perspective, change your life" that all counseling/psychology, specifically CBT based books dwell on.
Potential for Avoidance
What I really disliked was the part where it says some things are unavoidable such as seeing an accident or injustice and it shouldn't be taken at face value. To me, that's almost like saying to pretend not to see reality or face the truth.
Social Interaction
No matter how good it sounds, I don’t find it practical enough to apply things like this in real life. As humans, we thrive on social interactions. The environment around us has a potential to influence our behaviour and mood to some extent, no matter how hard we try to avoid it.