The Power of Positive Thinking

Last week, I talked about how stress impacts our health. This week, I wanted to elaborate on that topic a little and talk more about the power of positivity. In my post, I mentioned that we’re in control of our own thoughts – which we can use to help reduce stress. After all, our bodies won’t know something is stressful unless we tell them. Let’s just learn how to stop doing that, shall we?

Here are a few things that bring us down along with suggestions on how to handle them with positivity:

1. Situations out of our control – Remember when you got stuck in that traffic jam on your way to that big meeting? And you got so angry that you cut off a police officer in an effort to try to get ahead of everyone? This situation is out of your control, so there is no need to worry. Make a phone call to tell your boss that you’re stuck, and sit back and relax. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your fault (because you were running late to begin with or took the wrong route) or if your boss is going to be fuming. That’s her problem right now. Worrying isn’t going to make anything better.

2. Other people’s thoughts – As a species, we’re kind of weird. I doubt wolves run around worrying what other wolves are thinking about them. But, we do it all the time. We worry that we’ve offended someone or that a new coworker doesn’t like us. What’s the sense? This is actually another situation that is out of our control. And, what’s more, it doesn’t matter what the other person thinks. Your life is still going to be your life.

3. Wanting to be angry at someone – I’m guilty of this one more often than I’d like to admit. There are times when things go wrong and I want so badly to be mad at someone, so I find someone to blame. The problem here is that you’re taking control away from yourself and giving it to that person. After you do that, it’s in their hands. You can’t make the situation better because you’ve given up control. So, you just sit there being angry. It’s always better to take responsibility (although it may sometimes be difficult) so you can handle the situation in a more positive manner.