To change your life, you first have to change your way of thinking. It is on this principle that today’s article will be based. If we look at the history of popular personalities who made dramatic changes in their lives, we will notice that they had a moment when they had to change their thinking.
At the heart of all this is a special mindset built around positive thinking. This concept is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Like any habit, there are specific ways to maintain a positive attitude and think positively every day.
Positive thinking - what is it?
Positive thinking is an internal concept, a consciously formed habit that has a beneficial effect on a person’s psychological state and plays the role of a motivator in his development.
Positive thinking fills a person with energy and peace.
Positive psychology is a new branch of the science of the soul that studies the impact of positively colored thoughts on the formation of personality, and also gives recommendations on how to learn to enjoy life.
Benefits of Positive Thinking
It will be easier to start working on yourself if you have a clear picture in your head of the benefits positive thinking provides. You can sketch out a list of areas of life that are affected by psychological attitude.
Among them will be:
- control over emotions and one’s own destiny;
- increasing stress resistance;
- ability to quickly adapt and accept change;
- improving relationships with others;
- the ability to fully enjoy every moment, finding the good in it;
- strengthening mental and physical health.
The list goes on. The motivation of a positive individual only grows over time, and he sets other goals for himself and strives to reach new heights.
Phrases for a positive morning mood
As you start a new day, make it a habit to make yourself happy with small phrases. It is better if you print these phrases on a sheet of paper, cut them and string them on a string using paper clips.
Take one note every morning, read it and remember it. This will be your prediction for today - your phrase of the day.
List of phrases:
- "I am the most beautiful".
- "I'm happy".
- "You'll be lucky today."
- "Happiness will come soon."
- "Everyone loves me".
- "The world is beautiful".
- "I am unique."
- "There's a lot of happiness all around."
- "I attract good luck."
- “I feel good.”
The list of phrases can be continued at your discretion. It is important that all phrases are positive. There is enough negativity in life as it is.
It’s like putting things in order in an apartment: the mess comes on its own, but you have to restore order.
The benefits of positive emotions in everyday life
Thoughts influence the present and the future. Negative experiences open the way to troubles and failures. On the contrary, bright thoughts help improve the situation.
Life is what you imagine it to be. It is impossible to win a prize if you are sure of losing. Thoughts influence habits, habits form character, and character determines destiny.
By choosing the method of positive thinking, a person better finds a common language with others, does not give free rein to negative emotions, and lives in peace with people and with himself.
Selective filtering
Some people tend to focus only on the negative aspects of life. If you ask them to talk about what happened to them that day, most of the information will be colored in dark tones. Positive episodes are underestimated or overlooked.
This phenomenon is called selective filtration. Some psychologists attribute selective filtering to mechanisms of self-defense and adaptation. In order to resist troubles and prevent even greater negative consequences, a person must be attentive to problems. Pleasant moments do not require decisive measures and quick reactions, so it is not advisable to waste memory resources on them.
However, there is another side to this approach. A person fixated on the negative creates some of his problems himself, increasing the state of stress and the degree of mental tension. He sees nothing good in life. This creates a feeling of hopelessness, leading to depression.
Benefits of Positive Thinking
People who know how to notice pleasant events and feel gratitude for this achieve peace of mind. They build a strong building in their hearts, brick by brick, a repository for the best that is in them. Later they draw strength from him and find solace.
By choosing positive thinking as a program for communicating with the world and other people, a person begins to notice that the environment is changing for the better.
Relationships with colleagues, neighbors, and relatives are improved. Transmitted outwardly, light and goodness without any admixture of criticism and prejudice resonate with others.
It turns out that the people he turns to for work or to resolve everyday issues are friendly. A person with positive thinking unconsciously becomes pleasant to others, even if she does nothing specifically to be liked:
- the face is not tense;
- the eyes emit a calm, quiet light;
- the voice is calm, even;
- there is a slight smile on the face.
Those around you catch this on a subconscious level and relax. They do not need to be prepared to fend off a possible outburst of anger or defend themselves against harsh words.
Positive people attract others.
Positive thinking benefits your daily perception of the world. The personality is open to new experiences and sincerely admires the beauty of nature, works of art, and other people. It is easier to build a personal life; there is no desire to harass your partner with nagging and claims.
A positive attitude in life helps in personal development. Instead of unnecessary soul-searching, searching for those to blame, and endless worries, a person moves forward. Any experience, even a negative one, is an opportunity for him to become more successful.
Love sphere
If you do not know how to attract good luck yourself in the field of love and romantic relationships, use the following technique:
- take a position that is comfortable for your body, close your eyes and relax;
- imagine a white-silver luminous sphere at chest level, which you call the sphere of love;
- mentally reduce its size to a pearl and attract it to your heart;
- imagine the light spreading from the pearl throughout your body, increasing the intensity of its radiance;
- feel yourself as the source of this light, located inside the pearl and generating love and gratitude;
- carefully come out of this state by returning to reality.
To achieve maximum harmony with the world, use this technique - relax, at chest level with your eyes open, imagine the volumetric number 8, shining with white-silver light. Throw a stream of light through it and release it into space. The entire exercise takes 30 seconds, it works in any situation. It is not recommended to do this before going to bed.
The difference between the thinking of positive and negative people
“Be positive” is a fashionable slogan these days. However, not everyone can distinguish true positive thinking as a way of life from a mask of cheerfulness and contentment. To be in trend, some only pretend to be happy and cheerful.
Behind the external manifestation of positive emotions lies deep dissatisfaction. Left alone with himself, such a person throws off the mask and gives free rein to the accumulated negative thoughts, feelings and emotions. Positivity for him is just a screen presented to prying eyes. A negatively thinking person continues to engage in self-destruction and alienation from others.
Sometimes the mask of a good-natured and cheerful person does not help, and at critical moments negative character traits appear.
Here it is appropriate to compare a person with a vessel - what it is filled with spills out of it.
By making a conscious choice to have positive thoughts and doing the appropriate work on oneself, a person will respond kindly to any situation. He will see the positive aspects even in troubles, will not blame anyone and will not feel guilty himself.
The main traits of individuals with positive thinking:
- radiate warmth and joy;
- show politeness and diplomacy;
- do not shift responsibility to others;
- they are pleased with the success of others;
- capable of forgiveness;
- replenish knowledge, master new skills;
- have clear goals and strive to achieve them;
- open to change, it’s easy for them to start a new business;
- grateful for what they have.
Characteristic traits of individuals with negative thinking:
- accumulate grievances;
- evaluate and criticize;
- blame others for their failures;
- easily come out of a state of calm;
- do not set goals for themselves;
- appropriate other people's achievements;
- do not share useful information;
- consider themselves omniscient;
- fear and avoid change.
Positive thinking individuals do not see things as black and white. They realize that things may not be the best now, but tomorrow will be different. They easily let go of a situation if they cannot influence it.
Draw your dream
At first glance, it seems that these are all little things, but it’s these little things that make up life. Allowing yourself even small pleasures - be it a cake or a walk in the woods - can make you happier and your attitude towards life will become more positive. You can go further and draw your dream or hang in a prominent place photographs of the place where you want to visit: the mountains, if you dream of skiing, the Eiffel Tower, if you dream of going to Paris... Such photographs will set you up for the positive, and you will what to strive for.
Remember that a positive attitude helps not only achieve your goals, but also overcome serious difficulties: many doctors, including oncologists and surgeons, claim that optimistic patients’ wounds heal faster, they tolerate treatment better and recover faster.
Fighting negative thoughts
In order to fill your head with pleasant, bright and kind thoughts, you need to make room for them from negativity.
Source and analysis of negative thoughts
Negative thoughts appear as a reaction to an annoying event or unpleasant news. This occurs involuntarily due to previous painful experiences or gloomy expectations of the consequences of the event.
The reason for negativity can be even minor circumstances that are not worth attention, which can be easily dealt with without falling into despair and nervousness.
A positive person who knows how to constructively analyze does not allow negativity. He views negative reactions as a waste of emotional and physical resources. For him there are practically no unsolvable problems. There is a conscious avoidance of destructive thoughts here.
A person consciously chooses his way of thinking. Even if you have a long-term habit of grumbling and being indignant about any reason, you can change by working on yourself.
By learning to track involuntary negativity, you can remove it from your head.
You need to learn to stop the unpleasant internal dialogue by distracting yourself and replacing thoughts with constructive ones. When analyzing your negative reaction, you should ask the following questions:
- Are you exaggerating?
- Is it really that bad?
- Is it possible to improve the situation?
The following technique helps to make an objective analysis. Write down a negative statement that comes to mind on a piece of paper, and then say it out loud on behalf of the other person. Imagine that this person asked you to give your opinion on the adequacy of the statement. It is always easier for people to be critical of someone else’s statement than to be critical of their own.
A neat change from negative to positive
Having tracked their negative statements, they are replaced with new ones. They act carefully and systematically. Over time this will become easier to do.
You should not go to extremes and replace negative thoughts with overly self-confident ones. For example, we found out that you are going to give a public speech. A negative protesting thought arose in your head and the confidence that nothing would work out for you. Desperately wanting to replace the negative with the positive, you began to think intensely about yourself as a great speaker who can handle any speech. If you convince yourself that you can successfully speak impromptu in front of an audience without prior preparation, then everything can end in disaster.
Overconfidence is just as dangerous as lack of self-confidence.
In this case, it is better to replace the negative with the idea that you have time for preparation and rehearsal, that you will definitely cope and show your best side.
Lack of contact with sources of negativity
It is recommended to exclude any contact with sources of negative thoughts:
- Avoid news and scandalous talk shows on TV.
- Don't listen to the radio or read newspapers with incident reports.
- Avoid communicating with people who talk about their problems and complain about life.
- Replace hard rock with light music or classical pieces.
- Read good books and watch funny films.
- Avoid quarrels and conflicts if possible (for example, on social networks or forums).
- Try not to remember negative moments from the past - this cannot be corrected, learn a lesson and move on with your life.
Observe where negative information most often comes to you, and cut off this thread.
Keeping a Thought Journal
To work effectively on yourself, you will need a thought diary. It records all the thoughts of the past day. After analyzing the records for the week, they draw a conclusion about personal changes. Ideally, there should be more and more pleasant, bright thoughts every day. They replace negativity.
You should not engage in self-deception and wishful thinking by indicating false information in your diary. It is better to take small steps towards results than to waste time on illusions.
Spit out the negativity on the pages of your diary.
Particular attention is paid to repeated negative experiences. They are recorded separately in order to work with them later.
It is useful to focus on what brought pleasure and generated positive emotions. If you act systematically and persistently, the desired result will definitely come.
Developing an optimistic approach to life
Developing an optimistic attitude affects many areas of life, and the process can take a long time. But from the first days of practice you will notice positive changes. Having gotten rid of negativity, you will feel unprecedented lightness and calm. Often this is exactly what people need to finally start noticing the little joys in life and enjoying the present moment.
To think positively, an ordinary person will have to change a lot in himself.
Physical health
Health and fitness have an impact on mood and mental well-being. It is known that in a healthy body there is a healthy mind. It’s difficult to think positively when you haven’t gotten enough sleep, your teeth are aching, or you feel pain in your spine.
Recommendations to help create a good foundation for psychological change:
- healthy food;
- sufficient physical activity;
- good sleep;
- walks in the open air;
- giving up bad habits.
In addition to your physical health, you will notice changes in your thinking. It is easier for a well-rested and healthy person to be happy.
Appeal to creativity
With the help of creativity, a person liberates himself, becomes more creative, and can self-realize. Ideal if you already have a favorite hobby that you enjoy doing. But most often, modern people spend their free time on the phone, computer or watching TV.
Try to find a creative hobby you like by trying different activities one at a time:
- art;
- dancing;
- singing;
- wood carving;
- embroidery, etc.
Our website has a separate section about hobbies, where you can pick up ideas for self-development.
With the help of creativity, you can organize your thoughts, bring ideas to life and feel like a talented, interesting person.
Realistic goals
The goals that a person sets for himself must be realistic and achievable. When, despite the efforts made, the result does not work out, the incentive to move on disappears, and a person gives up. He begins to think that he is unable to cope with the task.
If there are no global goals, start with simple ones - run in the morning.
It is recommended to break global goals into small stages and move along them. With small but confident steps it is easier to achieve your plans and reach your dreams. Don't forget to praise and reward yourself for your results.
Communication with positive people
Having excluded negative people from your contact list, surround yourself with those whose company brings joy and pleasure.
Cheerful, kind, successful people charge you with energy and push for positive changes by their example. They do not criticize, do not gossip, do not extol themselves, and do not burden their neighbors with personal problems.
Having fun
Try to have fun. The ability to find joy in little things keeps you afloat and prevents you from getting bogged down in melancholy and despondency.
Enjoy the little things:
- good weather;
- wonderful book;
- exciting music;
- the opportunity to talk with a pleasant interlocutor.
Watch comedies, attend fun parties. All this forms a general positive psychological background.
Living in the present instead of the past
Negative past experiences hinder development. Regrets about past actions or missed opportunities, worries about failed relationships, and misfortunes that have occurred often do not go away and force you to replay pictures of the past in your head again and again.
Regrets about the past will prevent you from enjoying the present.
A person is wary of reality, closes himself in, putting on a mask of indifference and cynicism.
Until a person realizes the harmful influence of the past and gets rid of it, it will be difficult for him to move forward.
The influence of symbols
People interested in esotericism have an idea of the impact that various symbols, numbers or colors can have on a person’s destiny. Given the fickleness of luck, special symbols have always been used to attract luck to favor it. They need to be kept in the house, at work, or worn on the body in order for them to “work.” The most common ones are:
- four-leaf clover, which is stored as a herbarium;
- a horseshoe made of metal, copper or gold, which is nailed above the door in the form of an arch. It will attract good luck and wealth, protect from negativity;
- a figurine of a toad with a coin in its mouth symbolizes great luck, activates monetary energy, taking on negativity and transforming it into gold coins;
- sailboat - good luck in business. This is a very effective technique, according to which the house is a harbor, and ships are sources of income. The more of them in the harbor, the better things go and the greater the profit;
- goldfish is a symbol of abundance and harmonious family life. Keep an aquarium with goldfish and enjoy happiness - personal and family.
Methods for developing positive thinking
Psychologists have created a number of techniques for developing positive thinking.
Elimination of negativity
Getting rid of negativity, no matter what it is, is the main and main step. Meditation, Yoga practices, concentration, and auto-training can help with this.
You can win by consciously monitoring negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones.
Finding the positive in everything
Most life situations can be viewed from different angles. Surely even in an unpleasant event there is something positive. At the very least, the experience gained can be considered a positive thing.
Learn to see the positives in everything.
Those who decide to develop positive thinking in themselves need to learn the art of finding the good in everything. Having mastered this method, a person becomes invulnerable to the blows of fate.
The power of thought
The method using the power of thought is one of the most effective. You just need to understand that any thought is material and can change reality. Having realized that bad thoughts can attract troubles, a person will try to avoid them.
Imagine the desired events more often, and this will charge you with energy to achieve them.
Psychologists' opinion
Psychologist Philippe Gabiye expressed the idea that random luck is a rather rare and unpredictable thing. But there is another type of luck that is available to anyone and can be developed and activated in oneself. He claims that there are techniques for attracting good luck, and the one who owns them looks like a constant lucky person from the outside. His theory is supported by another eminent psychologist from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, Richard Wiseman. He devoted a significant part of his life to studying various factors of luck. According to him, luck exists in a passive form that does not depend on a person, such as winning a game. It also arises as a result of a psychological attitude, making a strong-willed decision with a conscious, clear formulation of one’s own position.
Such luck can be controlled and achieved repeated repetitions. Therefore, in the language of psychologists, it is called long-term. Only for this you need to understand how to attract luck and constantly use this knowledge. Luck has five important components:
- meet the right influential person at the right moment;
- obtain some key information at the right time;
- be ready to gain new experience and basic knowledge on attracting good luck;
- receive an unexpected request;
- become a participant in a fateful event that can change your whole life.
According to Gabiye, in order for luck to visit you, you need to prepare fertile soil for it and ensure a clear attitude towards positivity. Advice from psychologists in this matter can be an important help in preparing the necessary conditions to ensure good luck. It is very important to understand that a person himself is the creator of his own happiness and has unlimited possibilities for this.
Additional Tips
To quickly achieve the goal of creating positive thinking, additional expert advice will be useful.
Pleasant awakening
The whole day depends on what emotions a person starts the morning with. Waking up with gratitude for the opportunity to live a new day will put you in a good mood. And the belief that the coming period of time will be filled with interesting events is one of the important conditions for success.
Listen to the advice of Professor Preobrazhensky from “Heart of a Dog” and don’t read newspapers in the morning.
A cup of your favorite coffee, a delicious breakfast, and memories of a happy chapter in life will help you get into the everyday rhythm.
Gratitude to others
Feeling gratitude towards other people has a beneficial effect on your mental state.
There are special techniques that will help you become grateful:
- Say thank you often.
- Keep a special notebook where in the evenings you write down at least three episodes in which you felt gratitude.
- Write a letter to someone in your circle outlining everything you are grateful for. Reading a letter out loud to that person has a special effect.
- When you do something good for someone, don’t expect gratitude in return. The opportunity to provide a service is already a pleasant reward.
Everyone has a bad mood
All people have days when it is difficult to cheer themselves up. Nothing helps.
Remember: it's a bad day, not a bad life. Tomorrow will be better.
Don't blame yourself. You need to go through this period, trying not to take it out on others.
Favorite hobbies
Try to fill your life as much as possible. Your favorite hobby is exciting and brings a lot of pleasure. Choose an activity you like and devote part of your leisure time to it.
Many hobbies allow you to find wonderful people among like-minded people.
Proper rest
Periods of activity must certainly be followed by rest to restore physical and mental strength.
You need to rest properly:
- walk outdoors;
- country holiday;
- doing what you love;
- communication with pleasant personalities;
- Reading books;
- dream.
Lying on the sofa in front of the TV only creates the illusion of proper rest. The brain becomes clogged with unnecessary information. Regular noisy parties with alcohol are even more harmful. Such rest leads to degradation and health problems.
Successful sexual relationships
Regular sexual relationships that bring satisfaction and joy have a positive effect on your emotional state. During intimacy, happiness hormones are produced, giving a feeling of well-being.
Visualizing Success
Scientists have long proven the positive role of visualization in achieving success. When striving for any goal, you need to imagine yourself as the person you want to see yourself as. Try on his manners, speech, positive thoughts, mental state of success. Try to visualize in detail everything that surrounds your ideal.
This practice allows you to get significantly closer to your goal.
By mastering positive thinking, you will take your life to a new level, improve your relationships with loved ones, and become a happier person. Don’t give up if you get caught up in the negative at first, because learning to think positively, see the positive and enjoy life is a long process. Thinking positively is as much a habit as making your bed in the morning, and it takes time to make it a part of your life.
Colors
Some colors that attract good luck are considered no less happy. Red, green and yellow are considered the most effective colors for attracting good luck. Yellow symbolizes supreme power and imperial grandeur. Red is associated with beauty, happiness, success, and green attracts finances. When people want to achieve success in one of these areas, they surround themselves with these colors - in clothes, in the interior, decorate themselves with products and accessories with a predominance of the right lucky colors - and sooner or later success comes.