“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”
Mohandas K. Gandhi
In my blog posts, I am taking the opportunity to focus on positive thinking and positive self-talk, ideas on adding more positive speaking to daily life, positive behavioral patterns, and the importance of positive values.
Positive thinking is a key component to happy living. Positive thinking is where it all begins. What goes on in your mind? Those powerful, interior, unspoken words–the self-talk that takes place that only you can hear. The thoughts that trigger the action of words. Positive thinking is simply a way to think about the more constructive, optimistic aspects of anything unpleasant, tedious, or undesirable. Self-talk is the constant interior monologue that plays out in your head throughout the day.
The Mayo Clinic linked positive thinking and self-talk to a reduction of stress and better health.
Health benefits to positive thinking include:
*Increased life span
*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
The Mayo Clinic states “One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body.”
Here are some examples from the Mayo Clinic on how to apply a positive twist to potential negative self-talk.
Putting positive thinking into practice:
| Negative self-talk | Positive thinking |
|---|---|
| I’ve never done it before. | It’s an opportunity to learn something new. |
| It’s too complicated. | I’ll tackle it from a different angle. |
| I don’t have the resources. | Necessity is the mother of invention. |
| I’m too lazy to get this done. | I wasn’t able to fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine some priorities. |
| There’s no way it will work. | I can try to make it work. |
| It’s too radical a change. | Let’s take a chance. |
| No one bothers to communicate with me. | I’ll see if I can open the channels of communication. |
| I’m not going to get any better at this. | I’ll give it another try. |
Acupuncturist, herbalist, Maya abdominal practitioner, and reflexologist Christina Morris is the founder of Element Natural Healing Arts. Writing about health and wellness gives her an outlet to express her care and concern for her beloved community. She believes everyone can achieve better health and happiness–emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.