Have you ever wondered what your thoughts are like? We know that thinking involves forming or combining ideas in the mind. Every day we think, and we do so about our actions, about reality, about others, about ourselves… The type of thinking that we cultivate has a great impact on our emotions and our behaviors.
In this article we will talk about a specific thought: positive thinking. We will explain what this concept consists of, why it can be beneficial to cultivate a positive thought every day and how we can do it, through 8 exercises or key ideas. As we will see, there is no single way to do it, but there are some generic guidelines that can help us develop healthier and more realistic ways of thinking.
What is positive thinking?
- Positive thinking has to do with the ability to see things from an optimistic, enriching and constructive perspective. It also implies believing in yourself, being realistic and facing problems with optimism.
- It has to do, for example, with thinking that the efforts invested in certain situations will end up paying off. They are thoughts formulated in positive terms. However, it would be a bit naive to think that, just by having a positive thought, things will always turn out well for us.
- This is not entirely so; what is certain is that feeding our minds with positive messages related to aspects that depend on us and that await hope can help us build healthier relationships, have a more optimistic vision of reality and improve our emotional well-being.
- “Winners are in the habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations before the action occurs.”
- -Brian Tracy-
- Benefits of training positive thinking
- Both thinking and speaking positively are actions that predispose to dialogue and allow better communication with oneself and with others. Keep in mind that what we think affects our emotions, our state of mind and our actions.
- What you tell yourself, through positive thinking, has to do with your internal dialogue or language. Building a positive internal language can help you connect more positively with yourself. In addition, this language allows you to obtain a more constructive vision in the face of possible adversities.
8 exercises and tips to cultivate positive thinking
How can we train our positive thinking? We leave you some key ideas to start working on it:
Be aware of your thoughts
The first step in training positive thinking is to become aware of your way of thinking. What do you tell yourself during the day? What thoughts come to your head before your achievements? And before your difficulties? To become more aware of them, a good idea is to write them down.
Look at the following: are they formulated positively or negatively? Do they help you to improve and enjoy or do they cause you interference and suffering? Once you have identified the positive (and realistic) thoughts, try to reinforce them, to reproduce them during the day.
Find what excites you
Having goals and illusions keeps us active in life, and not only on a physical level, but also on a mental level. Illusion is a healthy ingredient for our well-being, which keeps us from apathy. That is why a key idea to train your positive thinking is to look for what excites you, what motivates you. Set yourself realistic challenges and goals and go towards them.
Accept the difficulties
In this article we defend a positive but realistic thought, not an idealistic and utopian thought. For this reason, it is important to also become aware of our difficulties and the obstacles that we must face during the day.
Accept that they are there and propose to reformulate your problems in a positive way; how can I feel better What can I do to improve the situation? Can I do something or is it something that does not depend on me? As we can see, learning to think positively also implies being aware of all this.
Identify the positive part of what happens to you
This is not an easy task, but like everything, it can also be trained. Everything that happens to us awaits positive and negative aspects. But it is important to learn to identify them. It is clear that there are very tough situations that we will have to face and trying to find the positive part is not always possible; However, if it is difficult for you to find that part, try to find at least one learning result from that experience.
When we learn to find the positive part of a certain situation, or learning, we are also cultivating a kinder, more compassionate and positive language towards ourselves.
Analyze how your thoughts make you feel
Positive thoughts are not simply those formulated with optimism, but those that generate positive emotions in us. That is, those functional and healthy, which have a positive impact on our other thoughts, on our emotions or on our state of mind.
Therefore, it is important to learn to identify what emotion our thoughts generate in us, to learn to “classify” them as positive (healthy) or negative (maladaptive).
Surround yourself with people who add value to you
Surrounding ourselves with people who make us feel good is also another way to cultivate our positive thinking. Because? Because our relationships also impact our way of thinking, being and acting.
To find out if the people we interact with add value or not (that is, they are positive for us and make us feel good), we can practice the following exercise: ask yourself, how do I feel after seeing X person? Do I feel better or worse? With more energy or without it? There is the key. Remember that it is in your power to decide who you want in your life and who you don’t.
Reduces self-criticism and self-demand
It’s okay to be demanding with ourselves, especially when we want to achieve certain goals, but assess to what extent your degree of demand benefits or harms you. Find the middle ground or the point that makes you feel good about yourself.
Being very demanding with ourselves, and, above all, being critical, can contaminate our thoughts and make them negative or dysfunctional. Take care of your internal dialogue, don’t judge yourself and don’t be especially hard on yourself. Remember that self-love is the first thing you have to cultivate in order to enjoy good self-esteem, and positive self-esteem is also related to positive thoughts.
Cultivate realism
- As we said, cultivating positive thinking has nothing to do with seeing everything “in the rosy color” or thinking only about the good things in life. It has to do with cultivating realistic thinking adjusted to what happens to us, but formulated positively, with a hopeful message when possible. Thus, it has to do with seeking coherence between what we think and what we feel, which generates peace and inner well-being.
- And you, have you ever wondered what your thoughts are like? Do you tend to think positive or negative? What relationship do you have with your mind and your way of thinking?
- These small guidelines that we have explained can help you develop positive thoughts in your day to day, which allow you to take care of your inner dialogue and face life’s challenges with greater serenity, calm and optimism. However, each one must find their own way to cultivate this type of thinking, as long as it is beneficial to them in their day to day.