During the Lenten season, our parish priest lectured on each of the cardinal sins. Upon reflection, all these seven sins are really NEGATIVE THOUGHTS which disempower one from moving forward positively. I do not want to lecture on this topic but it seems logical to address how negative thoughts occur in our minds. Dante Alighieri’s Inferno describes nine circles of hell wherein these cardinal sins are exemplified. Look at the figure below which is a pictorial diagram of these seven cardinal sins.

LATIN ACRONYM	LATIN NAME	ENGLISH NAME	LOCATION IN DANTE’S INFERNO	ANIMAL SYMBOL	VIRTUE
S	Superbia	Pride (Ego)	Eighth/Ninth Circle	Peacock	Humility
A	Avartia	Greed	Fourth Circle	Toad	Charity
L	Luxuria	Lust	Second Circle	Goat	Chastity
I	Invidia	Envy (Jealousy)	Sixth/Seventh Circle	Snake	Kindness
G	Gula	Gluttony	Third Circle	Pig	Temperance
I	Ira	Wrath (Anger)	Fifth Circle	Lion	Patience
A	Acedia	Sloth (Laziness)	Second/Third Circle	Snail	Diligence

Negative thoughts are “remnants” of these seven cardinal sins and thriving on these thoughts leads our lives on a continuing downward spiral. The corresponding virtues in the right hand column of the table show the POSITIVE THOUGHTS from which POSITIVE POWER THINKING will flourish. This will energize your sense of self on a path of happiness for you and all those you meet.

We are all guilty of any one of these at some time in our lives. It is normal because we are human. What is important is that we become aware of these since negative thoughts and bad ideas and bad actions often result from these seven sins. Knowing the accompanying virtues can lead us to practice thinking positively for our own good.

There are two kinds of pride; for example, one which is being hard-nosed and refusing to apologize for a wrong done because of ego and the other kind is “good pride” which is maintaining authenticity because you are proud not to smear your name. You should be proud of your family and your name. But being too proud of your name and using your name to get what you want is false pride. Pride means not admitting your mistakes and being insincere and dishonest about this. Pride can also mean arrogance like thinking that you are better than everybody else, all high and mighty!  A historical example is Hitler who claimed white race supremacy. Remember that there is always someone better than you. What is important is that you do the best you can with all the talent you have been given and remain humble to recognize that you are one person in this world of many.

Greed refers to wanting material possessions, being miserly like Ebenezer Scrooge but “good greed” can lead us to motivate ourselves to do better for ourselves. I have co-founded a company and I told my partners my intentions in doing this project. As my kids are grown and have good jobs and well situated, having this additional income was not my main goal. Besides, it meant having to work 60-70 hours per week. At the onset, I told my partners that I wanted to start a non-profit company from the royalties that I will be receiving from licensing my nanopowder technology. I wanted to start a manufacturing plant, first in my own home country and then in other countries needing employment for their people. At the same time, I will also be mentoring and guiding new doctoral graduates to be able to commercialize their ideas and then proceed to start their own company themselves in their own respective countries. The third goal is of course to develop new products and new materials that will benefit humanity. However, my partners contracted me on a “3% of net profits” royalty terms which was pointed out to me by other investors as unjust and incorrect since net profits can always be made zero. I asked them to change this but they refused and also demanded that I develop all the products I have conceived or will conceive for them at the same royalty rate. They even told me “what is the connection between the royalty and your non-profit company?” Their goal was to get as much money as they can. Needless to say, we parted and all for good! We cannot bring all that money to our final resting place but the good we do for others in this world will prevail forever.

Lust is wishing for someone else’s lover which oftentimes results in rage and more discord. King Henry VIII had many wives and was notorious for lusting at many women. Adultery is an old shortcoming of man. Being chaste, loyal and true is often challenged. Let only positive thoughts prevail and think not of your self-gratification but of the consequences of your negative thoughts.

Envy or jealousy means not being happy for someone else’s success, not congratulating the person for his achievement. Instead, one should look at this person as a role model and seek him as a mentor for guidance in his endeavor. Unfortunately, one’s pride may keep him from doing so. Instead, if you are jealous, work harder and align your goals positively and be humble to get any help you can get. You will be surprised how many people will want to help you. All you need to do is to humbly ask. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Use your strengths to improve yourself and help others and acknowledge your weaknesses and get advice from others. You will then be able to achieve your goals more quickly and more successfully and you will be more happy having all these positive relationships surround you! Do not let pride and envy fill you with negativity. How often does a supervisor become jealous of his employee’s capabilities and thus, he shuns any of his suggestions for achieving the company’s goals? On the contrary, the supervisor should harness the talent of this employee because any success of this employee reflects positively on him and will show how good a manager he is. Yet because of jealousy, most supervisors curtail the talent of this employee and therefore, no progress is made. If you think positively, you will benefit from the talent of your employee and he will make you shine. Think about this for a moment! Envy does you no good.

Gluttony is eating too much, especially at “eat-all-you-can” buffets! This means we consume more calories and so we gain weight and then become unhealthy. Being unhealthy leads to illness and more negative depressive thoughts. Being sick does not bode for a joyful life. For me, health is wealth and you should “gluttonly take care of your health”. No matter how much money you have, you can never buy your health! Even the powerful Roman Empire, especially under Emperor Nero, succumbed to enormous banquets resulting in her ultimate downfall.

Wrath is anger that is almost hateful. Any degree of anger is not good as our blood pressure rises and we are in a state of inner agony without inner peace. Everybody gets angry since this is human nature. However, should you get angry, do not let it linger more than one hour. Resolve your anger at someone as soon as possible. Be frank and let the other person know why and what made you angry. Our children make us angry and we get angry at our children. We get angry at our boss, our spouse, our friend. Nobody is perfect. If you do not try to have open communication with the person that caused you anger, you will have this anger in your heart and as it lingers, it then becomes hate. I prefer to let out my anger immediately and I tell it as it is. But as soon as I let it out, I am done and I let it all go, returning back to normal. Again, this boils down to being genuine and authentic which is so much better as this will give you inner peace and inner happiness! Never let your anger stay in you because only negative thoughts will continually pervade your mind. Mend your relationships quickly with a MAGICAL SMILE, HUGS and LOVE! Let POSITIVE THINKING dominate your thoughts. You will only get MAGICAL POWER!

Sloth or laziness is another human imperfection. We often put off for tomorrow what we can do today. A lazy employee who is always late in submitting his report and missing deadlines will be fired from his job. Being lazy leads to “bad pride” because we rely on other people to support us. We become dependent on other people for their charity. Being lazy also means that you do not love yourself because if you love yourself, you will work hard to achieve your goals and be motivated to improve yourself for your own good and for the good of your loved ones. Successful people work hard because they know that only by working hard does one reach his goals. Laziness also leads to thinking negative thoughts all the time because you are not doing anything worthwhile. You are accountable to yourself and only you can really make yourself successful! We are all here in this world with a talent that this world needs. Use your talent and do not delay. Time is of the essence…the world needs you and you need the world! Harness your POSITIVE POWER! No more excuses…

Make a cardinal shift to positive virtues today. Empower yourself with MAGICAL POSITIVE POWER THINKING!