Positive or Negative – Think About It! – Part 2

As promised here is the second part to my last blog titled, “Positive or Negative – Think about it!” In the first part I talked about how we are surrounded by negativity and asked the readers of which group did they identify with the most, the Pollyanna’s or the Eeyore’s of this world.

We might as well resign ourselves to the fact that we can’t escape dealing with negative people in our lives. And we also have to face the fact that we will experience negative situations along the road of life. However, we CAN choose not to be one of those negative people and we CAN choose how to deal with those negative events in a more positive manner.

I talked a little bit about the benefits of positive thinking but didn’t get to get into the “how to’s” of how to put some more positivity into your life. Hopefully I can succeed with that in this blog today. Lets’s get started shall we?

TURNING NEGATIVE THINKING INTO POSITIVE THINKING

Even though the process is simple it does take time and practice to create new habits. So let’s look at some ways to think and behave in a more positive and optimistic way:

• Acknowledge what areas need to change. What areas of your life do you typically find yourself having negative thoughts about? Maybe it’s family, a relationship, work environment, or even your daily commute to work. Whatever it is start out small and focus on one area of your life that you can start approaching in a more positive way.
• Check in with yourself. Throughout the day take a moment and evaluate how you have been thinking and acting. If you find that your behavior has been mostly negative, change course and put a positive spin on it.
• Surround yourself with positive people. Spend time with people who inspire you to be a better person. Look for people who will be supportive and make you feel good. Negative people can sap the energy right out of you and make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways.
• Practice positive self-talk. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Don’t talk to yourself in a way that you wouldn’t talk to someone else. When a negative thought about yourself comes into your mind be reasonable with yourself and respond with affirmations about what is good about you.
• Look for the humor. It’s okay to smile or laugh especially in the midst of difficult times. Look for the funny in everyday situations. When you can laugh at life, you will feel less stressed.
• Live a healthy lifestyle. Follow a healthy diet to fuel your mind and body. Find time to exercise at least three times a week. This has been found to positively affect your mood and reduce stress. It is also helpful to learn techniques that manage stress.

PRACTICE POSITIVE THINKING EVERY DAY

Just a few but very important words about practicing positive self-talk as it relates to positive thinking. Positive thinking often starts with positive self-talk. Self-talk is that constant chatter in your head that never stops. It is automatic thoughts that can be positive or negative coming from logic and reason or from misconceptions that have formed stemming from a lack of, or wrong information.

If the majority of your thoughts running through your head are mostly positive you are probably an optimist, (someone who practices positive thinking). That’s great! You can be an example and inspiration to others who aren’t, so keep it up! On the other hand, if the thoughts running through your head are mostly negative you more than likely are a pessimist and would benefit from the suggestions listed above to become more positive. By practicing positive self-talk and by practicing I really mean practice — daily. That means more than once right? Eventually your self-talk will contain less self-criticism and more self-acceptance which will probably help you along the way to becoming less critical of the world around you.

About a year ago I wrote a blog that was titled, “Be Kinder To Yourself.” It provided information about self-criticism that you might find helpful. Or, if you have read it and are still struggling with critical self-talk maybe reading it again would be beneficial to you as a refresher course. We all need reminders at times.

Filling your head with more positive thoughts can make a big difference on how you see AND react to things in life. You will find that you are better able to handle everyday stress in a more constructive way when your state of mind is generally optimistic. And we all know how stress can play havoc with our health. So, it is not surprising why researchers believe that having the ability to think more positively may contribute to the widely observed health benefits.

In closing, I would like to give you an exercise that can help you on the way to becoming more positive. At the end of the day share with someone close to you one great moment that you experienced that day. If you can make this a habit it will encourage you to be on the lookout for positive moments throughout the day. This is also a great way to increase your feelings of gratitude for even the simple things in your life. Things that you might not even realize that you have been overlooking.

While writing this blog a song kept comming to my mind. I will share the link so you can listen to it and hopefully get a little inspiration from it. This version might be dating me somewhat but it is a classic and a classic has no age boundaries right? The song is called, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qk9o_ZeR7s. Listen to the song a couple of times so it gets into your brain. When you find that your thoughts want to turn in a negative direction hopefully the words will come back to you. With those words and you practicing the techniques mentioned in this blog I believe you CAN turn the negative into the positive!