“Is your glass half-empty or
half-full? How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may
reflect your outlook on life, your attitude towards yourself, and whether
you're optimistic or pessimistic. “Your
attitude reflects what you believe about yourself. As a man thinketh in his
heart so is he.” said the mystical teacher Christ. And so I ask you, what are
your words saying about you, what is your story?
Some studies show that
personality traits like optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your
health and well-being. The positive thinking that typically comes with optimism
is a key part of effective stress management. And effective stress management
is associated with many health benefits. If you tend to be pessimistic, don't
despair — you can learn positive thinking skills. Here's how.
Positive thinking doesn't mean
that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life's less pleasant situations.
Positive thinking just means that you approach the unpleasantness in a more
positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the
worst.
Positive thinking often starts
with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run
through your head every day. These automatic thoughts can be positive or
negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk
may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information
(false programming). A positive attitude comes from seeing things, from an
inner knowing, and believing that all is moving you towards something more.
Therefore the power of positive
thinking is directly connected to the ability to remove, control or eliminate
negative thoughts.
Thoughts of doubt,
fear, worry, doom and gloom, focusing on what could go wrong is a clear sign of
negative thinking. And negative thoughts can harm you.
Here are some examples of negative self-talk and how
you can apply a positive thinking twist to them.
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Negative self-talk
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Positive thinking
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I've never done it before.
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It's an opportunity to learn something new.
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It's too complicated.
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I'll tackle it from a different angle.
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I don't have the resources.
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Necessity is the mother of invention.
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Here are some habits of a negative thinker
- Filtering. You magnify the negative aspects of a
situation and filter out all of the positive ones. For example, say you
had a great day at work. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were
complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. But you forgot one minor
step. That evening, you focus only on your oversight and forget about the
compliments you received.
- Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you automatically
blame yourself. For example, you hear that an evening out with friends is
canceled, and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted
to be around you.
- Catastrophizing. You automatically anticipate the worst. The
drive-through coffee shop gets your order wrong and you automatically
think that the rest of your day will be a disaster.
- Polarizing. You see things only as good or bad, black or
white. There is no middle ground. You feel that you have to be perfect or
that you're a total failure.
Both positive
and negative thinking are contagious:
All of
us affect the people we meet, in one way or another. This happens instinctively
and on a subconscious level, through our thoughts and feelings, and through
body language. Is it any wonder that we want to be around positive people, and
prefer to avoid negative ones?
Negative thoughts, words and attitude bring up negative
and unhappy moods and actions. Words like can’t, fear, hate, try are all lower
in vibration, causing you to be negative. When the mind is negative, poisons
are released into the blood, which cause more unhappiness and negativity. This
is the way to failure, frustration and disappointment.
Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into
the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion
and success. Words like certain, joy, capable, present, happy, are lighter in
vibration, thereby lifting your spirit.
If you
want to create a better life you most first have a positive attitude!
