The Power of Positive Thinking

It is wonderful to see such a great response to this week’s mental health theme of Building Resilience and thank you all for your comments which are adding so much to the posts. Yesterday we looked at ten ways  to build resilience and much of the advice pointed clearly to the importance of your attitude in stressful situations. In today’s guest blog post, holistic therapist and stress management consultant, Catherine Connors, expands on the power of positive thinking as a way of building resilience in our lives.

 The Power of Positive Thinking…..

Your attitude and your reaction to events and/or changes in your life can determine the condition of the world you live in.  You will gain more from life by thinking positively than by taking a negative or cautious approach.  In other words it’s better to be an optimist rather than a pessimist…..

So what does ‘Positive Thinking’ mean?

“No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head” – Terry Josephson

Its import to note that positive thinking isn’t about ignoring the obvious; it isn’t about pretending that everything is wonderful in your life when you find yourself in times of difficulty.  Positive thinking really is a process of finding something positive in every situation, even the bleakest, the old saying ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ has some merit. 

A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome from situations and actions, it looks to the positive aspects of every situation and what we learn and gain each time, even when things go wrong (as they sometimes do in life) by maintaining a positive mind we can look at these situations as opportunities to learn from them and not to dwell on them.

“I like to think of thoughts as living blossoms borne by the human tree” – James Douglas

So how do you start to thinking positive –

Below are some steps that can help you on your journey to positive thinking

1.   Be aware of your thoughts.  Take some quite time in the day to just sit and quietly observe what mulling around in your head without focusing on any thought, just allow them to come and go at random.  Meditation is a wonderful tool for this, and it’s during this quite time that we can learn what really happens in our own minds.

2.  Appreciation – appreciate everything that your body/mind/environment/life can do and bring us, from breathing to dancing, sports to walking on the beach, to be able to hear birds singing, to smell the freshly cut grass, to wrap our arms around someone we love, to sing, sharing a meal with family or friends, the sound of rain, kicking a football etc, the list could go on and on.  Every moment of our day (and lives) is precious.

3.  Write it out – Take some time to write down everything that you love and are thankful for in your life, people, things, happy events, moments when you feel/felt good/proud/happy/successful etc… 

Now make a list of all the aspects of yourself that you like, everyone has something special about themselves that they can do or enjoy doing.

4.  Realize your negative thoughts – This might require a bit of soul-searching (and in some cases a little outside help might be needed, for example a coach, therapist etc), some of our negative thoughts are sometimes deep seated beliefs about life. 

When you find yourself thinking negativity (I can’t do this, I’m terrible, I’m a failure) then stop what you are doing and spend a moment exploring why this thought has popped up in your mind, then try replacing the negative thought with a positive thought, ex: I can’t do this to I’m going to give this the best shot I can….

These are but some steps anyone can take on the journey to positive thinking.  Life sometimes knocks us for six when we least expect it, but if you have a positive mind there is nothing that can stop you from achieving your dreams.

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking” – Albert Einstein

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Catherine A Connors first became interested in Holistic therapies and Natural treatments 14 years ago as a method to aid a member of her family who became seriously ill.   Since that time her areas of expertise and knowledge of Natural solutions have grown enormously and have been used time and time again to assist others.  Catherine is well known for her dedication to her clients, her passion for her work and the countless hours she provides on a voluntary basis. 

Amongst other things Catherine also produces her own, very popular, in-house magazine ‘De-Stress’.  Every issue is full of articles by various experts within their field and is dedicated to the subject of Stress.  De-Stress is available to view and read online for free – 

http://www.issuu.com/stress-solutions4life 

Catherine is a Stress Management Coach & Consultant, Time-Management Consultant, Holistic Therapist & Trainer and Natural Therapist. She currently lives in Paris, France with her husband, dog and two cats.  To find out more about Catherine and her work please visit her website and blogs   

www.stress-solutions4life.com

www.facebook.com/Stress.Solutions4Life

www.stresssolutions4life.wordpress.com

www.issuu.com/stress-solutions4life