POSITIVE THINKING

Positive thinking is the idea that you can change your life by thinking positively about things.

This idea can sound a bit soft and fluffy, which is something of a problem for many people who recognise that just thinking good thoughts won’t change the world and therefore discard the whole idea.

However, research shows that positive thinking really does have a scientific basis. You can’t change the world, but you can change how you perceive it and how you react to it. And that can change the way that you feel about yourself and others, which can in turn have a huge effect on your well-being.

Quick Tips to Enable Positive Thinking

  • Gain Control of Yourself: Do not be critical of yourself to others. Whilst it can be useful to confide your concerns to someone you trust, telling the world is something else. Be kind to yourself. Make a list of your good qualities and believe them, believe in yourself.

  • Don't Be A Complainer: By being negative you can isolate yourself from others and cut yourself off from positive solutions to problems.

  • Learn to Relax: Allow time for yourself each day, if only for a few minutes it is important to find time to relax and unwind. See our page on Mindfulness for more.

  • Boost Your Own Morale: Treat yourself every now and again. Especially if you have overcome a problem or made a personal achievement.

  • Congratulate Yourself on a job/task well done and perhaps tell a friend. Justified praise is a good boost to morale.

  • Learn to Channel Nerves and Tension Positively: when you are nervous, adrenalin is pumped through the body and you feel more keyed up and alert. This extra energy can be used to good effect; enabling you to communicate with greater enthusiasm and intensity, for example.

  • Learn to be Assertive: Stand up for what you believe in and do not be pressured by others. See our section on Assertiveness for more.

The Effect of Negative Thinking

To understand the effect of positive thinking, it’s helpful to think about negative thinking first.

Most negative emotions, such as fear or anger, are designed to help with survival. They cause us to take swift and effective action to save ourselves from whatever is threatening us. This means that they also prevent us from being distracted by other things around us.

So far, so good, in survival terms. If there’s a bear standing in front of you, you don’t want to stop to pick flowers.

But negative thinking is not so great in more modern settings. If you’ve got a lot to do, and you’re worried that you won’t get it all done, the last thing you need is for your brain to shut down and focus only on how long your ‘To Do’ list has got.

Negative thinking is a habit, something you can train your brain to avoid. Constant negative thinking can make you much more likely to be stressed and can lead to more serious problems, like depression.



The Benefits of Positive Thinking

Many studies have looked at the role of optimism and positive thinking in mental and physical health. It’s not always clear which comes first: the mindset or these benefits. But there is no downside to staying upbeat.

Some physical benefits may include:

The mental benefits may include:

  • More creativity
  • Greater problem-solving skill
  • Clearer thinking
  • Better mood
  • Better coping skills
  • Less depression

When people in one study were exposed to the flu and common cold, those with a positive outlook were less likely to get sick and reported fewer symptoms.

During another study, women who were more optimistic were less likely to die from cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and infection.

And in a study of people over the age of 50, those who had more positive thoughts about aging lived longer. They also had less stress-related inflammation, which shows one possible link between their thoughts and health.

People with a positive outlook may be more likely to live a healthy lifestyle since they have a more hopeful view of the future. But researchers took that into account, and the results still held.

Developing Habits of Positive Thinking

If you think about positive thinking as ‘being happy’, it is much easier to work out what you should do to develop habits based on it.

For example, what do you like doing? And with whom do you like spending time?

Research shows that there are three very good ways to build positive thinking skills:

1. Meditation

People who meditate every day show more positive thinking than those who do not.

Is that the meditation causing the positive thinking, or just having time to think? It’s hard to tell, but it’s also hard to argue with the science. People who meditate tend to show more mindfulness, or ability to live in the present, which is also associated with positive thinking.

2. Writing

A group of undergraduates were asked to write about an intensely positive experience every day for three days.

Amazingly, they had better moods and better physical health afterwards, and the effect lasted for quite a long time. This is a pretty easy thing to do: you could, for example, write a blog focusing on positive experiences, or keep a diary.

3. Play

It’s important to make time for yourself to have fun.

Sometimes you might need to actually put it into your diary to force yourself to make that time, whether it’s to meet a friend for coffee, or go out for a walk or a bike ride.

4.Smile more 

In a study, people who smiled (or even fake-smiled) while doing a stressful task felt more positive afterward than those who wore a neutral expression. You’ll benefit more if the smile is genuine, though. So look for humor and spend time with people or things that make you laugh.

5.Keep a gratitude journal

This may sound cheesy, but when you sit down each day or week to write down the things you’re thankful for, you’re forced to pay attention to the good in your life. A study found that people who kept gratitude journals felt more thankful, positive, and optimistic about the future. They also slept better.

6.Picture your best possible future

Think in detail about a bright vision for your future -- career, relationships, health, hobbies -- and write it down. When you imagine your life going well, research suggests, you’ll be happier in the present.

7.Focus on your strengths

Each day for a week, think about one of your personal strengths, like kindness, organization, discipline, or creativity. Write down how you plan to use that strength in new ways that day. Then, act on it. People in a study who did that boosted their happiness and lowered their symptoms of depression at the end of the week. Six months later, those benefits were still going strong.With practice, you can add more positive thoughts to your life and enjoy the benefits that come with optimism.



                                                           BY SURANENI ASISH




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Climate Change

Image
                CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change is the catch-all term for the shift in worldwide weather phenomena associated with an increase in global average temperatures. It's real and temperatures have been going up around the world for many decades. While this temperature increase is more specifically referred to as global warming, climate change is the term currently favoured by science communicators, as it explicitly includes not only Earth's increasing global average temperature, but also the climate effects caused by this increase. Global efforts are now focussed on keeping temperatures from increasing more than two degrees above that pre-industrial average, and ideally no more than 1.5 degrees. That goal may still be possible if the international community pulls together.         Effects of climate change Climate change is having economic and socio-political effects, too. Food security is already being impacted in...
Read more

NATURAL DISASTER

Image
                                            NATURAL DISASTERS   A Natural disaster is an unforeseen occurrence of an event that causes harm to society. There are many   Natural disasters   that damage the environment and the people living in it. Some of them are   earthquakes , cyclones, floods,   Tsunami , landslides, volcanic eruption, and avalanches. Spatial extent measures the degree or severity of the disaster.       Levels of DisasterS: The severity or degree of damage can be further divided into three categories: Small Scale Disaster s :   Small scale disasters are those that extend from 50 Kms. to 100 Kms. So this kind of disasters does not cause much damage. Medium scale Disasters :  Medium Scale disasters extend from 100 Kms to 500 Kms. These cause more damage than a small scale disaster. Moreover, they can cause greate...
Read more