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Imagine someone who is always so positive being filled with negative thoughts and complaining about something as silly as their food being slightly on the cold side in a restaurant... the two just don't go together, do they?
This is because positive people tend to focus much less on the bad and always find the silver lining to the cloud rather than being constantly pessimistic. This is not to say that being positive means being a pushover, thinking positively simply means that being positive brings you much more happiness and satisfaction and therefore means that you don't feel the need to find fights or battles in life.
Reasons To Become A Positive Thinker
Still on the fence about whether or not it's worth sticking at this whole positive thinking thing? Here are just some of the reasons for staying positive.
1. It will impact on your overall happiness
A positive attitude is the key to happiness. As you most probably know, money can't buy you happiness and reaching the top isn't always what it's set out to be. But being positive and being grateful for the things you have - your home, your health, family and friends, love - are what truly make you happy. Happiness is an attitude, inside of you. It is not something tangible.
Just as being positive can make you happy, being negative can also make you unhappy, so which would you prefer?
2. It can make you more motivated
By adopting a positive outlook, you can make accomplishing dreams and achieving goals so much easier. Being motivated is impossible if you doubt yourself or lack in passion, so allow your confidence to push you forward and use a positive frame of mind to get you what you want.
3. It can boost self-esteem
Your quality of life and the way you feel about yourself are all linked to your attitude. If you think positively, you will feel happier. If you are negative, you'll feel pretty dull. Boost your self-esteem by looking at yourself in a positive light and picking out the things you like about yourself. Also, turn any negative features or characteristics into positives.
It's important to not let what others think bother you, and to really try not to worry yourself about what they think at all. For, it's easy to convince yourself that people are talking about you but if you give off confidence then they will respect you. Then, you'll realise that people weren't talking about you behind your back at all!
4. It encourages better health
People who look at their glass as half full are usually more fit, energetic and healthy than people who think negatively. And, as scientists and medics will agree, happiness is far better for your wellbeing.
When you adopt a positive attitude, your immune system is more advanced, your mind is stronger and your body is better able to function at its best.
5. It can improve relationships
Last, but not least, being positive and happy will have a great effect on those around you, meaning that you can improve your relationships with loved ones just by having a better mindset. People tend to gravitate towards positive people, and don't like to spend their time around people who are negative all of the time.
Wouldn't you like to be the one who brings joy, happiness and a positive, uplifting energy to your group or home by using positive affirmations?
How Positive Thinking Has Helped Ex-Military
Let's face it, there aren't many jobs more stressful, traumatic or draining than being deployed in the army. So, how do soldiers remain positive when they return home, after seeing so much destruction and sometimes, death? Sadly, many ex-military members suffer with anxiety and depression on returning to their home country, but some of the lucky ones swear by a positive outlook getting them through their darkest days.
Find a personal development coach here.
Positive Psychology Learning
Positive Psychology Learning is a programme that teaches people to think positively in order to overcome obstacles in their lives and learn to be happy people. On their website, they tell the story of a military officer, Tom Smith, who found these principles helpful in recovering from life in the army.
"Flt Lt Tom Smith is the Station Training Officer and oversees the generic professional training for the 800 personnel on the unit. It was whilst researching resilience that Tom found ‘Positive Psychology’ to repeatedly show up in his online searches. Positive Psychology is a relatively new and rapidly developing field, which focuses on the study of the factors that contribute to optimal functioning, honing in on ‘what is right’ with people and how we can apply these principles to enhance our everyday lives.
Tom was keen to find out more and got in touch with Positive Psychology Learning. Established in 2015 by Lesley Lyle and Dan Collinson, Positive Psychology Learning provides a variety of training workshops and coaching sessions, which draw on the latest research findings in the discipline of positive psychology, Their interactive workshops enable participants to overcome challenges and develop new ways of functioning that enable them to thrive.
Tom arranged for a 2-day Introductory course to be run at the base for himself and ten of his colleagues which was found to be enormously beneficial. As Tom explains: “My greatest insight was that if I apply a small amount of conscious effort to what I’m doing, I can be disproportionately happier, more engaged and focussed. The power of being ‘in the moment’ and allowing my emotions to circulate without judgement has literally changed my outlook and ability to be more compassionate with others.”
Tom continues: “The course was absolutely fantastic. The areas of Gratitude, Strengths, Resilience, Happiness and Growth Mindset are so key to what we do in the military. Our understanding of how easy it is to integrate and create positive working environments really hit home. The exercises we did around negativity bias and the happiness formula really compounded the massive effect positive psychology could have on our culture in the military.”
However, it is not just beneficial in overcoming the effects of military life, it can also be hugely advantageous to other areas in life and not only those working these high-pressured environments.
For instance, another of their case studies focuses on a female teacher who found the modules really helped her to engage wholly in home life and improved her communication with her child, whilst also enabling her to be more inspirational to her students in the classroom.
She says: “We have a lot more conversations, he’s more engaged and he feels that I’m more interested. He’ll actually expand on things, tell me things and give me examples … little things that I wouldn’t have even asked him about in the past, which has been has been nice for me to hear as well as for him to talk about. He’s opened up a lot more”."
As well as this type of re-conditioning approach, there are many online resources that promote positive psychology.
Find A Life Coach
It can be confusing, difficult and embarrassing when you realise that you need help eliminating negativity from your life and getting to be positive. But there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Life coaches are there to help you, not to change who you are but to work with your strengths and allowing you to build positives to benefit your mental and physical health.
Professionals in this field are not therapists, and don't explore areas of negativity. On the contrary, their focus is to make your world a happier place to live and to give you the tools to unlock this wondrous place.
Coaching, in general, will help you to improve your performance, be more productive, achieve your goals, boost your resilience, cope with stress, be optimistic, stimulate creativity, recover from depression, and feel more engaged with life.
You can look for a life coach by searching local directories, looking up ads in the newspaper or by finding someone via social media or word of mouth.
Superprof currently counts more than 2,500 life coaches, so why not check them out today?
Superprof is an online platform for tutors and coaches to advertise their services and to connect with pupils. Here, you will be able to search for a professional in your chosen field, filter by area (however this may not be applicable if you are happy to carry out lessons via video call) and also sort in order of price.
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