"MY grandma was seriously ill and doctors had given up on her.

But we constantly saw positive images of her returning home; we would always talk positive and this really helped.

She was back with a bang! It was nothing less than a miracle,” reminisces Ria Khanna, a chartered accountant from Mumbai.

Ever since Ria realised the power of thinking positively, "setbacks do not scare me any more," she adds.

“As soon as I get a negative thought, I consciously try to replace it with a positive statement,” she reveals.

Ria now consciously tries to construct statements without using words ‘no’, ‘don't’ and ‘won't’.

For long, psychoanalysts, therapists and self -help writers have emphasised the power of positive thinking.

“Hold an image of the life you want, and that image will become fact,” says Norman Vincent Peale, author of the book The Power of Positive Thinking.

“You are the sum total of your own thoughts. If you think good, good will follow; if you think evil, evil will follow,” observes Joseph Murphy, author of another self-help book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.

Photograph: Stock Xchnge