How To Think Positive
WHAT IS POSITIVE THINKING?
Positive thinking is the behavior of exuding an optimistic attitude towards any given situation in our everyday life. It is the practice of focusing on the good in everything. It doesn’t mean being blind to reality or ignoring problems. Positive thinking is an attitude that helps us overcome disappointments in the moment. It is a way to encourage ourselves to move forward instead of being stuck with bad feelings.
Here are some ways you can learn how to think positive.
Take responsibility for your attitude:
Begin by assessing your thinking. Accept the fact that you are solely responsible for your thoughts. Whether you have negative thoughts or positive thoughts, your mind chooses how you think about a situation. Learn some exercises that help you gain control of your ideas and perspectives.
Embrace the benefits of positive thinking:
Positive thinking is integral to developing your self-management skills. It makes your everyday experiences more pleasant and beneficial to your mental and physical health. You strengthen your ability to deal with change. Reducing anxiety and depression helps you lead a longer, healthier life. Staying lively provides people a natural ability to form relationships and cement bonds.
Become aware of your negative thoughts:
Learn to recognize and identify your negative thoughts. When you become aware of them, you will assess and analyze these thoughts’ nature and recognize their root cause. You will also realize that most of these thoughts crop up automatically in your mind. ‘I know I will fail,’ ‘No, I cannot do this,’ ‘This is beyond my capability,’ are all examples of immediate negative responses. The trick is to stop and evaluate whether the thought is correct or accurate and challenge your thinking. Look for signs of exaggeration.
Stop being one-sided with your views:
For some of us, negativity is a constant in our lives. There is a natural tendency to filter out the full message and retain only those parts that seem worrying. And we immediately jump to imagining the worst-case scenario.
Arun’s mother, Mrs. Neelu Sharma, is seventy-eight and a vibrant homemaker. She cooks for the entire family and leads quite an active routine, including gardening and a short walk around the local park. But all of a sudden, Mrs. Neelu began showing signs of being depressed and lethargic. She hardly cooked with the same enthusiasm, showed signs of forgetfulness, and the garden outside was mostly left untended. Arun and his wife realized that this change in her coincided with the Covid pandemic setting in. Though Arun had ensured that she was safe and well taken care of, her habit of watching a lot of news on TV and reading updates in her daily newspaper had got her feeling afraid for herself and her family’s well-being. Arun quickly went about sorting out the sources of her troubles and began regular chats with her, continually pointing out the brighter side of it all. And gradually, she pulled herself back to being courageous and confident about life. Today, she is back to being happy and positive, and has even taken a couple of online courses as part of her routine.
Developing a positive outlook takes time and effort. It requires dedicated practice and gentle reminders about not falling back into negative thinking.
Be physically pro-active:
When a walk will do, walk, don’t take a cab. Eat healthily and indulge in a routine of physical exercise. Learn to sweat out your problems—nothing like a good workout to release those happy endorphins and make you feel good about yourself. Smile a lot, smile at others, and make others smile. When you change your bodily habits, your mind will follow.
IN CONCLUSION
Having a positive outlook is not something that can be forced upon you. It is a choice you and you alone can make. Real positivity always flows from within. It is about choosing to think thoughts that lift you up—connecting with things that bring a smile to your face. These choices can begin to create a positive shift in your way of thinking and show you a life filled with opportunities and solutions instead of anxiety and hurdles.
