The 6 Ways That Positivity Can Change Your Life

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Have you ever seen someone’s life transform because of an infusion of positive thinking? Have you ever wondered how that could change your outlook on life? A myth about positive thinking is that you bury your head in the sand and ignore life’s unpleasant situations, when in actuality, it means that you approach the uncomfortable moments in a more productive, hopeful way. You expect the best outcome, not the worst. Whether you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude, it has a big impact on your life and health. In this article, you will discover the six ways that positivity can change your life. 

1. Positivity Helps With Effective Stress Management 

Do you get overwhelmed easily by work and life in general, leaving you feeling helpless and hopeless? A study by Rohit Rastogi shows that positive thinking enables us to cope with stressful situations which reduces the harmful health effects of chronic stress on your body, like decreased anxiety, depression levels and better psychological and physical well-being. Diaphragmatic breathing and regular exercise can also be great stress management tools to incorporate into your daily routine. 

2. Positivity Helps You Cultivate A Spirit of Gratitude

It’s a comforting feeling having the things you want and need. But when you don’t, you can feel empty, incomplete and lacking. When you practice gratitude, it helps you realize all the good things you already have, no matter how small they may seem and it helps remind you of the control that you have over your life and all the amazing opportunities still in your hands. Try saying three things that you are grateful for in the morning to bring more sunshine into your day. 

3. Positivity Helps You Move From A Negative Fixed Mindset To A Positive Growth Mindset

How we speak about ourselves to ourselves and our goals is so ingrained in our minds, that we don’t often notice or question these thoughts. If you speak in self-defeating, limiting terms, then you can find yourself stuck in ruts and miserable. But if you invite positive programming, you can move from thinking that “you can’t” or “it won’t happen for me” to “I can do my best” or “it will end well for me.” You become your own cheerleader instead of your own worst critic.  

4. It Helps You Have More Patience and Grace With Yourself

Everyone is human and part of that is making mistakes and failing. It can be embarrassing and heartbreaking when we fail and we tend to be unnecessarily and extremely harsh on ourselves. As your mindset shifts with practice, you learn to accept your failures with love, compassion and understanding, without dwelling on them. You see your successes and achievements rather than focusing on your failures and shortcomings. Surrounding yourself with a good support system helps you as well to see the good in you. 

5. You Will Become More Resilient And Bounce Back From Curveballs

Fear of failure or worrying about it is normal, but sometimes the fear can hold us back from starting something new that we really want to do. When you embrace positive thinking, you learn to accept that while failure is inevitable, you gain so many lessons from the experience and that you can get back up and you keep moving forward towards your goal .

6. You Start Taking More Chances

Because of your newly found “can-do” attitude, you start branching out and taking new steps towards things that you want to do that push you out of your comfort zone. Maybe you start those first few blog posts or start a workout program. Whatever it is, it’s no longer a dream that’s only in your head – it’s a reality that you are confidently living in. You feel the fear but you do it anyway because you believe in yourself. 

Thank you for staying with us until the end, Psych2Go-ers. We hope you found something to help you bring well-deserved radiance into your life. Please share with this with someone who you think might need it or come back to it when you need some encouragement.

REFERENCES

Anon, 6 ways positive thinking will change your life. Guided Mind. Available at: https://www.guidedmind.com/blog/6-ways-positive-thinking-will-change-your-life [Accessed July 13, 2021].

Clinic, M.S., 2020. How to stop negative self-talk. Mayo Clinic. Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950 [Accessed July 13, 2021].

Rastogi , R., 2017. _Role_and_efficacy_of_Positive_Thinking_on_Stress_Management_and_Creative_Problem_Solving_for_Adolescents. ResearchGate. net. Available at: ‘https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321212701_Role_and_efficacy_of_Positive_Thinking_on_Stress_Management_and_Creative_Problem_Solving_for_Adolescents’ returned ‘429’ Finalize website details [Accessed July 13, 2021]. 

Young, P., 2021. How to practice positive thinking and change your life. Lifehack. Available at: https://www.lifehack.org/781506/power-of-positive-thinking [Accessed July 13, 2021].