Thinking Positive for a Happy Life
WHAT IS POSITIVE THINKING?
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – AbrahamLincoln
So what exactly is positive thinking? You might be tempted to assume that it implies seeing the world through rose-colored lenses by ignoring or glossing over the negative aspects of life.
However, positive thinking actually means approaching life’s challenges with a positive outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light.
It sounds simple just to start thinking Positive “YES” and it is Simple, but “EASY” it is NOT.
We form daily habits from a very early age. You shower, brush your teeth and eat your breakfast daily and these are some of the early habits we form. We learnt and formed these habits from our parents and the people in the environment around us as we grew up. Mind you I tried in vain to teach my children the habit of keeping their rooms tidy daily but that just never happened! Seems a habit they just did not want to pick up.
Our peers and family had a large impact on our thinking. Was your environment a ‘negative’ or ‘positive?’ Environment? My family had a bit of both growing up mainly positive thinking generated from my mum. My mother nearly always maintained a Positive thinking attitude no matter what happened and managed to raise us six children with the same Attitude.
So you say how simple is it? This Simple – when you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts or saying negative things, STOP yourself and turn these negative thoughts around to thinking positive and saying positive words. There is always a positive to the situation, person or thing that has happened.
Ah but do you find this so easy to do? Comes back to the ‘old habits’. Fears and doubts and old beliefs creep back in. So you not only have to be able to change your way of thinking to positive thoughts but you also have to be able to “Master your mind”. Your subconscious has buried those habits and thinking so deep inside it is hard to release them. This comes back to practice and forming a ‘new’ habit.
One of my little tricks when faced with a person or situation that is bringing me down is thinking of a song or a moment in your life you remembered that makes me feel good. A song that comes to mind for me is “Always look on the bright side of things”. A moment that comes to mind would have to be the birth of my children!
A saying my mum used to always say as well. Live, Laugh, Love which is where the name of my Life Coaching business originated from always makes the moment ‘Light’. Also when mum was faced with things that seemed impossible and far out of reach she would say “Stranger things have happened”. These are just a few of her habits I picked up along the way. Oh I did also pick up her habit of being clumsy but hey that is not so bad.
Can you start “Thinking Positive” for a happy life today?
