“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln

The power of Positive thinking is an everyday mission for me. I receive many emails from readers who ask my advice on how to cope with chronic health issues and other frustrating things in life. My biggest advice is to think positive. I can’t stress enough how important it is to always replace a negative thought with a positive one.

I have struggled in the past with negative ruminating thoughts that would plague my mental and emotional energy. I would feel so frustrated about my health issues and start to feel sorry for myself and I got into a horrible cycle of never-ending negative thoughts. I finally got to the point where I realized that thinking negatively would never help me to better myself in any way.

I started to slowly incorporate one positive thought at a time into my daily routine and over the years it has become much more natural to me to automatically replace a negative thought with something positive. It is still a challenge and I work at it every single day. Positive thinking can help immensely with the management of stress and can help to improve your health.

 

The Mayo Clinic notes that: positive thinking can bring about a longer life span, a greater quality of life, reduced risk for cardiovascular disease, lower stress and depression levels and even a better immune system. Positive thinking can alter your life outlook so that you feel a greater sense of health and vitality, and project that feeling into real results in your health.

The health benefits of positive thinking…

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:

• Increased life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower levels of distress
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

 

Start With These Tips…

1.) Out With The Old, In With The New

The minute you feel yourself thinking something negative – quickly replace that negative thought with a positive one. If you feel like you cannot possibly think of something positive when you are sad, depressed, angry, etc — let me tell you that you can. It can be anything positive from the weather, the way someone smiled at you, something you love about yourself or someone else, your animals, a good book, anything will suffice as long as it’s a positive thought.

2.) Fake It Til You Make It

You do not have to truly believe in what you are saying as long as you say it enough to the point where your mind and body start to believe it. You will get to that point once you practice thinking positively on a moment to moment basis. It won’t always come easy but having a desire to better yourself is the first step to change.

3.) Lick Those Wounds

Let yourself be sad. This might seem counterproductive but I think instead of trying to never feel upset, that we should accept that many things in our lives are hard and may be sad and let yourself feel sorry for yourself for a little bit if you need to (but not for too long). Lick your wounds and get back up and be positive.

4.) Find Something Positive In Everything

This goes back to a point I made in the first tip. There is always something positive in everything that we do and everything that we experience. It is a matter of having the will to dig deep into what those positive things are and holding onto them with all that you have. Don’t stress yourself out if you feel blocked and can’t think of anything good. When you give up the pressure to have to feel or be a certain way you will slowly start to see that it isn’t so hard to find something positive in all that you do.

5.) Like Attracts Like

Let’s be honest – as much as most of us want to avoid all negative people, it can be hard to do. The best thing you can do is try to not let your energy be sucked out from “energy vampires” as I like to call them. If someone is being negative, don’t let yourself go to that negative place too. Help them out of it. Give them positive reinforcements. In time you will find that the more positive you are as a person, the more positive people you will attract into your life and vice versa.

6.) Positive Mantras:

Start off your day by reciting something that is happy, uplifting and positive. It can be anything from “today is going to be a good day no matter what comes my way”, or “I accept whatever this day will bring me with open arms” and end your evening with positive thoughts like “today was hard but I am so proud of myself for getting through it with a smile”, “I will do even better tomorrow”, “tomorrow will be amazing”. These all might sound cheesy to you but they really do work when used daily!

“Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world,” he said wisely one day, “but people don’t know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

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♥

xoxo, Britanie