THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

“When I look at the world I’m pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.”                      - Carl Rogers

This quote indicates that it can be too easy for us to start to feel pessimistic about the state of the world. The news seems to be filled with stories of tragedy and human misery. Your social media feed might present you with constant influx of stories focusing on the current scenario, arguments, and stories suggesting that the world is going downhill fast. Roger’s quote suggest that while focusing on such stories it might make the world seem like a terrible place, focusing on individual can help you  maintain a more optimistic and realistic view of the world. So in this case negative thinking appears to be more prevalent than positive thinking. It seems that with most people, positive thinking requires some efforts, whereas, negative thinking comes easily, and often uninvited. Negative thoughts are like heavy dark clouds hiding the sun and the sky, making everything look gloomy and threatening. It’s you who has the power to scatter the clouds in your mind and bring back the sun and the blue sky into your life. It is your power to chase away the clouds and make your day, your life beautiful, shiny and full of light and all of this is possible if you engage in positive thinking.

Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude of expecting good and favourable outcomes and not getting discouraged when plans do not proceed as expected. It is an attitude of focusing on the good and positive in a situation, not on the negative and try not be affected by anything negative that in turn affects your mood and your state of mind.

Seeing things in a negative way you will end up being surrounded by negativity not just around you but this will even start spreading among your interactions with other, in family environment, in friend’s circle therefore affecting your relationships as well. So let’s just leave behind all this negativity and indulge in positive thinking which will even make you well equipped with all the necessary resources that are required to live a more happy and joyful life. If you are thinking in a positive manner it also empowers you to change the thinking of others from negative to positive and facilitate others to look at the things from a brighter perspective and spread it further. 

A study conducted from (2004-2012) on 70,000 women showed that to what extent can positive thinking effect not just your mental health but physical health as well, the results of the studies revealed that those who were optimistic had a significantly lower risk of dying from several major causes of death, including: heart diseases, stroke, infections and respiratory diseases. Therefore positive thinking facilitates not just better mental health but also our physical health.

Positive thinking isn’t magic and it won’t make all of your problems disappear. What it will do is make problems seem more manageable and help you approach hardships in a more positive and productive way.

Here are few techniques that you can engage in to stay positive in life:

• First, try to keep yourself engaged by doing something useful this could be as small as reading or as big as working from home.
• Second, learn to let go, at times you keep on holding on to certain negative things and it is nothing but the wastage of time and energy. It is like tying a heavy rock to your back, letting go sets you free from useless thoughts and makes you feel happy.
• Third, don’t wait for happiness create it- focus on happy events and things that bring enjoyment. Do not depend on others to be happy, create happiness and satisfaction yourself.
• Fourth, live in present moment that is do not dwell on the past or worry about future focus on how to carry out plans and things in present.
• Fifth, take responsibility for your actions and your life don’t blame people or circumstances for your actions.
• Sixth, focus on good things- challenging situations and obstacles are part of life. When you’re faced with one, focus on the good things no matter how small or seemingly insignificant they seem.
• Seventh, practice gratitude- practicing gratitude has been shown to reduce stress, improve self-esteem, and foster resilience even in very difficult times. Think of people, moments, or things that bring you to some kind of happiness and comfort and try to be thankful for it at least once a day.
• Eighth, be open to humour in all situations, especially the difficult ones, and give yourself permission to laugh. It instantly lightens the mood and makes things seem less difficult.
• Ninth, spend time with positive people- positivity and negativity has shown to be contagious. Consider people with whom you’re spending time. Surround yourself with people who will lift you up and help you see the bright side.
• Tenth, practice positive self talk- rather than forming negative thoughts about yourself and being your own worst critic. To stop this you’ll need to be mindful of the voice in your head and respond with positive message, also known as positive self-talk.

Therefore  let’s make positive thinking our weapon to fight against all negativity and let’s try to make it a part of our life, if we do so we could easily make out the difference as to how we are looking at things and how we are reacting to it.