“If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”

— Mary Engelbreit, artist

Power of Positive Thinking

Last Tuesday was Positive Thinking Day. Established in 2003, the day was set aside to celebrate the rewards of positive thinking. Though cynical thoughts may prepare you for the worst, too much pessimism impacts your emotional well-being.

Human beings possess an intrinsic instinct for mimicry. If you smile at someone, it’s most likely they’ll smile back. If you frown you’ll probably get a reciprocal glare meant to put you on edge. The same thing happens when you think positive thoughts. By consciously choosing to introduce positive thinking into your mind, your body will respond instinctually. It will send a signal to your brain that all is well and reduce stress, improve immunity, reduced physical illnesses, and help you become resilient when faced with adversity.

Numerous studies show that positive thinking can increase a person’s life span. Optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles than those who are pessimistic. They have healthy diets, don’t smoke or drink excessively, and get more physical activity.

We’ll never get rid of the ups and downs of life, but we can look at low points as a normal part of living and turn our focus upward. Being open to possibility and setting your intention to grasp it, is what positive thinking is about. But, how do you do it? How do you get leave gloom and doom and negative self-talk behind to become positive?

It doesn’t mean ignoring unpleasant situations, but it does mean approaching them in a more productive way. It involved thinking about what can be done to get the best result possible and not dwelling on despair. Negativity can come from not having adequate information, not understanding your options, or being stuck with preconceived ideas. By opening your mind to possibilities and ways around problems, you will find more paths forward than you might imagine.

Start by catching your negative thoughts and reframing them. When I  interned at a mental health clinic, we had a patient who was depressed by negative thoughts. His therapist suggested that he put a rubber band around his wrist and snap it whenever a depressing idea passed his way. At the time, I thought the therapist was out on a limb and it would never work.

But, I was wrong. It helped the patient see the tricks his mind played and opened him to reframing his thought with something positive. After recognizing his negative thoughts, he was taught to identify the time, place, and reason for them, and this allowed him to conceive of a positive step to take to solve the situation. It’s good to have a friend or counselor to focus you on a small step toward the result you’d like. Keeping it simple with short-term goals in a positive direction gives you a path to success. When that happens,  dopamine is released in your brain, making you happy and want more.

Common pessimistic sink-holes people fall into are:

• Personalizing bad occurrences by blaming yourself.
• Anticipating the worst without the facts.
• Blaming someone else instead of taking responsibility for your thoughts and feelings.
• Telling yourself you SHOULD do a task and then blaming yourself when you don’t
• Magnifying a minor problem until it becomes a big deal.
• Setting perfectionist standards that are impossible to meet.
• Viewing yourself as good or bad, without a middle ground.
• Filtering out the positive parts of your day and concentrating on the worst.

The Mayo Clinic lists suggests ways to put positive thinking into practice.

Negative self-talk	Positive thinking
I’ve never done it before.	It’s an opportunity to learn something new.
It’s too complicated.	I’ll tackle it from a different angle.
I don’t have the resources.	Necessity is the mother of invention.
I’m too lazy to get this done.	I couldn’t fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine some priorities.
There’s no way it will work.	I can try to make it work.
It’s too radical a change.	Let’s take a chance.
No one bothers to communicate with me.	I’ll see if I can open the channels of communication.
I’m not going to get any better at this.	I’ll give it another try.

To enjoy life, check on yourself and evaluate your thinking. Be open to humor, follow a healthy lifestyle, and surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Most of all, be gentle and encourage yourself with things that you’re thankful for in your life. If you are immersed in negativity, positive thinking will take practice, but do give it a try. You’ll become less critical of those around you and more willing to accept that we and all of nature have flaws.  

“Optimism is the most important human trait because it allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for a better tomorrow.”

— Seth Godin

References:

Website. Positive thinking: Reduce stress by eliminating negative self-talk. Mayo Clinic. retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950

Website 13 Quotes on the power of Positive Thinking. Inspiring quotes. retrieved from https://www.inspiringquotes.com/13-quotes-on-the-power-of-positive-thinking/YTD0f4T5EQAH_Ism?utm_source=top-content&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1561566189

Website. Positive Thinking Day, September 13, 2022. National Today. retrieved from https://nationaltoday.com/positive-thinking-day/

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