You’re in control

The Power of Positive Thought ….

You’ll probably know someone who always seems to be cheerful and has a smile for you no matter what life seems to throw at them and you might wonder how they manage to be so positive!

The answer is simple, consciously or unconsciously they have a positive outlook on life, they are life’s “glass is half full” people.  Things will go wrong for them and life will throw them all sorts of challenges just like it does for the rest of us, but what is different is what they do with those experiences.  They use our ability to choose how to respond, rather than react and generally do not let things bother them or the actions of others bog them down.  Sound good?

There are so many books out there which profess to help you become successful and, “think big”, “work less and earn more” and “be a productivity hero” etc but the mantras that make most sense to me are those explaining the power of positive thought.

Maybe positive folks read the Winnie the Pooh books by AA Milne as a child and this familiar quote has stuck with them:

winnie-the-pooh-quote

Embarking on setting up my own business was a bit daunting and it would have been easy to let any voices of self-doubt entering my head to take over – but I wouldn’t let them. I pushed them out and reminded myself in a positive voice, I can do this, I am going to do this and here I am, doing this!!

It’s been proven so many times in people with serious life limiting illnesses that positive mental attitude makes an incredible difference to the amount of precious time they have.  Contrast that by those who accept their illness and don’t have that fight and resilience to resist what is coming, where their fate is decided much quicker.  So what makes that difference, it seems to be all about the way we think about what’s going on in our lives.

When you feel happy, have you noticed you tend to have a better day, people respond better to you as you’re in a good mood which radiates.  Others interact with you in a positive way and you feel good and energised and are more productive to boot.

When you feel down, you might not even know why, have you noticed that everything seems worse than it is, nothing goes right, sometimes it feels really comfy to feel blue and you aren’t interested in trying to feel better……you make mistakes, your communications with others aren’t particularly successful as your negative energy impacts on how you engage others and rubs off, so they aren’t as co-operative as they normally would be.  You display “difficult behaviours” they aren’t sure what to do with…..do you recognise any of this?  You might snap at your kids or your partner as they are just irritating today, although they haven’t done anything to deserve it, but you need to take this angst out on someone and they’ll take it because they are family.

Next time you start to feel less than your best, take yourself somewhere quiet and try some deep breathing and slowly breathe in and out 3 or 4 times, this will slow you down and help calm your system.  Then try shaking your arms and legs out, to literally “shake the blues off”.  Stand up straight, if you can find a mirror, great, look at this and smile a few times – you’ll be amazed at the difference that makes to your outlook.  No mirror, just smile as you walk down the corridor, go about your business, even if there is no one there.  Think about anything that has made you happy and the smile will be reinforced by that memory.  This will change how you are feeling.

Simply put, you are breaking up the thought pattern in your head which stops the negativity and allows the positivity in!

Change how you think about whatever is causing you hassle.  If it’s a process that’s failing, change your thoughts to something more helpful, like, “we will get this process sorted out with everyone’s help”.  You’ll find you approach the issue in a much more engaging way that will encourage others to work with you and feel motivated to take the first steps to achieving this.

I will leave you with one of Bruce Lee’s most famous quotes,

“As you think, so you shall become”

If you don’t control your thoughts, then they will control you.  Give it a go, guaranteed you will feel better by changing how you think.

Back to blog