9 tips to boost your bright side with the “Power of Positive Thinking”

“Is the glass half empty or half full?” How do you answer this age-old question about positive thinking? It may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude towards yourself, whether you are an optimist or pessimist. It may even affect your physical health and mental
well-being. If you tend to be pessimistic, don’t despair. You can learn positive thinking skills and boost your bright side by:

Simply smiling more: Smile, even a fake smile, maintains heart rate and blood pressure during a stressful situation. You must also try a few minutes of humour therapy or laughter therapy. Be open to humour and allow yourself to smile or laugh.

Practice reframing: Reframing allows you to choose how you would like to respond, rather than instinctively react. It puts some distance between your reaction and your response, which will help you see more possibilities.

Positive expectancy: Magical things happen when you choose the mindset of positive expectancy. It’s an eager anticipation of success. It includes and goes beyond intentions, commitment, visualisation and affirmation.  

Accepting the reality: It reduces the level of anxiety disorders. With this, individuals will be able to maintain personal and social stability despite adversity. This is the key to building yourself. Accept the change and take action on problems rather than waiting for them to resolve themselves.

By understanding, positive thinking and self-talking: Positive thinking means that your approach towards life or any situation becomes more positive. It often starts with self-talk, which is the endless stream of automatic unspoken thoughts that run through your mind. It may arise from misconceptions or may come from logical or reasoning point of view. If the thoughts that run through your mind are negative, then say ‘STOP’ to yourself. Turn your negative thoughts into positive. The process is simple, but it needs practice and time because you are creating a new habit after all. Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what you are thinking. If the thoughts are negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them. Introspection and acknowledgement are very important in this process.

Practicing self-motivation: No one motivates you until you motivate yourself. You must have that burning desire to achieve your goal. Be gentle, kind, and encouraging with yourself. When you focus on yourself, you grow.

Following a healthy lifestyle: Do physical exercise daily. Exercise can bring a positive effect on your physical and mental health. It strengthens your bones and muscles and allows your body to release feel-good hormones. Follow a healthy and nutritious diet to fuel your mind and body.

Extending gratitude: It means giving thanks and showing appreciation for all the blessings that come your way. Gratitude opens your heart so you can feel lighter and happier. It’s a higher call to the universe to give you more and more abundance, love, peace and success.

Mindfulness: It is the process by which we intentionally draw our awareness to a particular moment. We do this for the betterment of our well-being and quality of life. This can improve the capacity of children to concentrate and be less distracted.

By practicing all these, your self-talk will contain less self-criticism and more self-acceptance. When your state of mind is generally optimistic, then you’ll be able to handle new challenges in life and achieve success.

Please Note: This article has been written by Ms Shilpi. Views expressed in this article are that of the author only.