Why What You Think and Learn Matters

You may feel stuck at different times in your life and realize you need to make some changes and adopt a positive mindset. It happens to most of us at one time or another. These periods can lead to feelings of helplessness, sadness, irritability and resignation. Mental health issues like depression and anxiety may even be exacerbated during these times. While it can seem impossible to get past how you feel, making a few simple changes may prove to have significant benefit. Taking proactive steps to address your thought patterns and personal development may very well make overcoming slumps seem more achievable. What follows is written and shared to help you discover why what you think and learn really matters.

About Positive Mindset

The way you think really does influence the way you feel and the way you behave. With this in mind, it makes sense that changing your thinking from a negative to a positive mindset can cause a shift in your overall mood and lifestyle. People who focus on the good over the bad tend to be happier overall. Positivity can affect your life in a number of areas. Your self-confidence, relationships with others and even your physical health can benefit from making a concerted effort to think more positively.

Benefits of Positive Thinking

When your thoughts are primarily positive, you’ll find your stress levels will begin to lower. That’s because your focus has shifted from useless emotions like worry and fear to more intentional efforts like planning and gratitude. By purposefully looking at the bright side, you’re more solution-focused and more likely to move past roadblocks. Instead of being stressed, you’ll feel accomplished. These accomplishments will give you greater feelings of confidence and empowerment. People who feel strong in their abilities have more emotional energy to achieve greater success in their personal and professional lives. Confident, positive people tend to take more risks and pursue what they want than do those influenced by negativity. In addition, other people will be more likely to want to be around you; people tend to be attracted to positive individuals. Finally, you’ll just feel better physically when you no longer suffer from the muscle tension, headaches, depression and anxiety that often accompany a poor mindset. When you adopt a positive mindset, the rewards can be many!

The Importance of a Positive Mindset

The way you think has a number of direct effects on other areas of your life. If you know you tend to look at the cup as half empty, working to deliberately change your mindset is a worthwhile goal! Better stress management, improved health, stronger relationships and increased career success are just a few of the many ways your life can benefit from a shift in thinking. Let’s take a look at the importance of a positive mindset along with ways to cultivate positive thinking.

Positive Thinking and Self-Talk  

Positive thinking involves looking at life’s setbacks in a more proactive manner. By focusing on possibilities and solutions instead of on everything you think is wrong, you’re more likely to generate productive thoughts around the situation you’re in. Your self-talk is comprised of the automatic thoughts that run through your head when presented with a problem or a complex situation. These thoughts are usually skewed in either a positive or negative direction, and they have a powerful influence on the way you feel about yourself, a particular situation or life in general. Because these thoughts are so automatic, they tend to arise from past experiences, preconceived notions or lack of information. More positive thoughts can be generated through research, inquiry or purposeful contemplation. Interrupting your automatic negative self-talk lets you discover information or consider more realistic views of a problem that can lead to affirmative beliefs needed to develop practical solutions. This process is known as re-framing negative self-talk, and it’s relevant to your outlook on life.

Benefits of a Positive Mindset

People enjoy being around people who are upbeat! It’s as simple as that. You may be surprised by how your social opportunities increase with a shift in your thinking. Your relationships are likely to improve as you start to frame issues in a positive light. It’s easier to work through misunderstandings when you approach them proactively. It’s this same principle in action when it comes to stress. Worrying and constantly thinking about the bad things is the root of stress. Simply by turning your thoughts in a different direction, you’ll be eliminating your primary sources of stress. And this can lead to improved physical and mental health. By feeling more in control of your stressors, your anxiety will likely lessen.  It can even have an impact on lowering depression. You’ll feel decreased muscle tension and enhanced concentration. Positive thinking can also affect cardiovascular health and your lifespan.

Ways to Focus on Positive Thinking

Cultivating a more positive mindset requires active, purposeful attention to your thought patterns and practicing the habit of re-framing negative ones. It may be helpful to make a list of the areas in which you’re more prone to have a pessimistic view. This will help you be mindful of your most prone issues. Assess your progress throughout the day to note the times you were successful. Doing so can increase your motivation and encourage progress. Avoid dwelling on missteps. Instead, cut yourself some slack and concentrate on the ways you find yourself moving forward and improving. Make an effort to surround yourself with happy, upbeat people who usually look on the bright side, because this will give you models and examples to follow. Be intentional in your practice of re-framing your self-talk and know it’s a process and requires patience and practice over time.

The importance of a positive mindset and its effects on your life should never be minimized. Changing the way you think really does impact you in many positive ways. You will begin to feel better about your life’s challenges which can translate into so many wonderful outcomes, so make the effort to adopt a positive mindset!

Helping You Achieve Major Wellness!

Cheryl

Cheryl A Major, CNWC

I’m author, health coach, and entrepreneur Cheryl A Major, and I would love to connect with you. If you’re new to the world of creating a better mindset for yourself, please check out my training on how to do just that at Embrace Optimism. Learn how to improve your mindset and create a happier and more positive life for yourself and those around you.

P.S. Please take a look at the books I’ve written.

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