How many of you have heard the claim that humans only use 10% of their brain power at any time? I’d say most of you. This is the rumour that the movie, Limitless, is based around. Protagonist, Eddie Morra, is in a dark rut in his life. Dumped by his girlfriend and a failed writer, things can’t seem to get much worse. This is until he’s introduced to the intelligence-enhancing drug, NZT. NZT apparently allows people to access 100% of their brain power as opposed to the regular 10%. Aside from a few hiccups, Eddie’s life turns around pretty quickly. Now unfortunately NZT isn’t a real creation and the 10% brain power theory is a myth, however this movie makes an important point about the human mind: it is a VERY powerful thing.

There is an urban fable that all bad thing happen in groups of three. Everyone has had one of ‘those days’ where nothing seems to go right, everything ends up haywire and in chaos no matter how hard you try. This is simply a theory, but a lot of the time bad or inconvenient things continue to happen because we either consciously or subconsciously expect them too. Whether it’s because of the ‘rule of three’ or that because of past failures we subliminally anticipate that our next move will be failures too, we bring the barrage of bad business on ourselves.

Now you may be thinking, “What a load!”, but think about it. The last time you had a horrible day, there was one inconvenience that started it. From that point, you’re mood would’ve been affected, hence you’re cognitive motions (thinking) would be affected and essentially, you are asking for irritating moments to happen. You’re not paying as much attention to your actions or speech because you’re still thinking about the earlier occurrence. Starting to sound familiar?

How would I know all this? That’s very simple. Until recently, I suffered from depression and chronic anxiety. There were days where things were fine, I was okay and everything went well. But then there was other days when I woke up feeling so low, and because of that, nothing went right. I’d look in the mirror and pick parts of my body I hated, I’d lament the fact that I had no boy in my life, I had no group of friends and this not only left in a deeper low, but it forced more inconvenient occurrences down on my life. It wasn’t until one night I was browsing Tumblr and I found a picture, one I reblogged, saying “You’re too young to feel this way” that something seemed to click. I made the choice to change my way of thinking.

As soon as I started looking at my life in a more positive light, things started to happen for me. Jobs interviews, friends, getting through my exams, possibly even a boy on the horizon, things started to fall into place. I looked in the mirror and felt at peace with what I saw. I stopped worrying about people judging, whether they liked me or not, and decided to be happy with who I was. It was a groundbreaking revelation that I hadn’t fully realised until that moment. The secret to success was truly simple; be happy with yourself and go about things in a positive way.

Thought is such a powerful notion that many people don’t take advantage of. Take it from someone who has been there, getting yourself out of a dark state of mind is difficult. It takes a bit of a shock factor. For me, it was that I still had so much left in my life, so why was I spending my time feeling like crap? Today, believe, and i mean truly, wholly and completely believe that today will be an amazing day. You’ll be surprised of the difference it will make. Look in the mirror and compliment yourself. Be positive. That is the only way of getting where you want. Be confident and happy with who you are, and always be positive. You’ll notice a big difference in you day. Trust me.