Personal development specialists suggest that we have the power to decide how we react to a situation, whether or not we can control it. Our attitude, therefore, towards success and failure could be said to be a crucial factor in determining whether or not we advance in life. If you’re feeling stuck in a rut, try these three key tips for positive thinking and get a head start on achieving your goals.
Positive thinking, or having a positive mental attitude (PMA), is the ability to focus on what is working well in your life, your strengths and those of others, and the learning that comes from all experiences, whether good or bad, empowering or crushing.
A branch of psychology, known as cognitive therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, looks at positive thinking in terms of slowing it down, and then looks at racing, repetitive thoughts that can sometimes lead to behavioral problems like anxiety or depression.
When we are able to slow down our thoughts, we can not only begin to isolate and identify them, but we can also begin to detect how they make us feel at any given moment. Our ability to be able to do this is important if we are to counter negativity, grow and improve constantly and consistently.
To start shifting your mindset from negative to positive, try these three tips:
1. Change your words
In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a branch of personal development that looks at how our minds can be reprogrammed so that negative habits are not learned, this is called reframing. Reframing means using different thought patterns or alternate words to put situations in a different perspective.
A helpful exercise is to divide a piece of paper in half and write the negative words you tend to use on the left side and their corresponding more positive alternatives on the right side. For example, you can write “problem” on the left and “challenge” on the right, or “can’t” on the left and “how can I?” On the right. This simple but powerful exercise will make you more aware of the negative words you use and how you can change them.
2. Train your inner voice
Your inner voice is one of the most important aspects in your quest to become the most positive you can be. Become aware of your inner voice and what it tells you. Over time, train him to become strong, confident, and assertive without being overbearing. Train him to say positive, motivating, and encouraging things to you. In this way you can begin to take control of your thoughts and therefore your actions.
3. Talk to yourself positively
Positive self-talk is making what you say to yourself on a daily basis as optimistic as possible, so that you can favorably influence your emotions, views, and actions. Positive self-talk, if used effectively, can be extremely powerful and can make you think much more positively. One way to use it effectively is to be as optimistic as possible when participating in it. This doubles the impact as you are not only hearing positive words, but you are also doing something positive with your body.
