Did you know that positive thinking has the power to transform your health?

It’s true!  Research has shown that positive thinking and experiencing positive emotions has the ability to heal our bodies from the ill effects of chronic negative thinking.

Positive attitudes such as playfulness, gratitude, awe, love, interest, serenity, and feeling connected with others have a direct impact on your health and well-being.

In this week’s article, I’m going to show you how you can harness the power of positive thinking in order to see this impact for yourself.

Wired for Protection

Our human brains are quick to look for what is going wrong.  We are wired to protect ourselves against any threat or danger, so we tend to prioritize the bad over the good in our mind’s eye.  This ancient survival mechanism still sticks with us today, even though many of our stress-inducing “threats” are not life threatening at all.  For example, an argument with a co-worker over a project deadline, or getting stuck in rush hour traffic.  The tendency to give more importance to negative experiences than to positive or neutral experiences is called a negativity bias.

Our negativity bias causes us to get stuck ruminating over minor frustrations, leading us to miss out on many chances to experience positivity, happiness, and gratitude throughout the day.

 

Negative attitudes and feelings of hopelessness can create stress, which upsets your body’s hormone balance, depletes the brain chemicals required for happiness, and damages your immune system.  Chronic stress impacts many major systems in your body, leading to a long list of health problems including weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, digestive disorders (such as IBS), and infection.  Chronic stress has also been shown to shorten the telomeres (“end-caps”) of your DNA strands which shortens your lifespan by causing you to age more quickly.

The Power of Positivity

Psychology professor, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson has spent many years researching and publishing the physical and emotional benefits of positivity.  She has found that positive emotions build over time, creating lasting emotional resilience and flourishing, and also broaden our perspective of the world (inspiring more creativity, wonder, and options).

Positive thinking has the power to help you sleep better, get fewer colds, recover faster from cardiovascular stress, and promote an overall greater sense of happiness.

 

The great news is that you can develop your positive attitude all on your own with dedication and practice!

Dr. Fredrickson’s research suggests that we should experience three positive emotions for every one negative emotion in order to maintain a harmonious emotional state.

Next, I’m going to share with you three effective methods you can use to easily grasp positive emotions throughout your day.

How to Transform Your Mindset

In order to overcome the negativity bias and see the tremendous benefits of positive thinking, you are going to have to train your mind to think positively.

As advanced as the human brain is, your mind only has the capacity to focus on once thought at a time.  However, you have control over what that thought is.  All you have to do is keep your mind focused on positive, uplifting thoughts so you can reprogram your brain, forming the same types of neural pathways that are created when you establish a new habit.

Your negativity and stress is a result of your response to a circumstance.

 

Your response is what determines the outcome of how you feel, what emotions you create.  This is the best news because it means that you can create your own positivity.  You always have control over your response to any circumstance.

In the next section, you are going to teach yourself to look for a positive or optimistic lesson from every circumstance or situation you experience.

How to Train Your Mind to Think Positively

Positive affirmations

Positive affirmations are positive phrases that can be repeated over and over again to help you get rid of negative thoughts and encourage a positive attitude in its place.  Motivational quotes and inspirational messaging can be very useful in producing positive thoughts.

Examples:

Though these times are difficult, this is only a short phase of life.

I possess the qualities needed to be extremely successful.

Look for the positives

Practicing gratitude is a great way to help you find positive blessings in your day.  Find at least one thing each day that you are grateful for, and write it down.  This can be ANYTHING that brings you joy, wearing your favorite shirt, to getting your favorite coffee, to having a Zoom date with your best friends.  When something makes you smile, write it on your list.  The list you create can be a great mood booster when you need a little pick-me-up.

Start your gratitude list with my FREE 31-day Gratitude Journal Challenge.

 

Reduce self-limiting beliefs with reframing

When negative thoughts do pop-up (as they are bound to), get into the habit of reframing the negative into a positive.  In other words, REPLACE your negative thought with a positive one.

Example:

Instead of being annoyed that you are stuck in traffic, reframe it as an opportunity to listen to your favorite playlist or podcast for a little bit longer.

My favorite reframing exercise is to use the phrase “get to” instead of “have to.”

“I get to go into work today,” instead of, “I have to go into work today.”

You’ll be surprised at the perspective and emotional shift you experience when you look at your commitments as something you get to do.

You have the power to create your own happiness.

You just have to DECIDE that you are going to see the glass half full as opposed to half empty.

Give thanks for the many blessings that you have in your life, rather than worrying or complaining about what you do not have.

Look on the bright side when things go wrong.  This will help you shift into a solution-focused mindset rather than a problem-focused mindset.

Developing the power to think positively can help you transform your health and your life in many ways.  When you think positive thoughts, you don’t allow your mind to entertain the negative thoughts or doubts.  You will notice a lighter, happier feeling because your body is able to produce more endorphins (feel-good hormones).  Your self-confidence will get a major confidence boost, allowing you to take on new challenges and push yourself outside of your comfort zone to help you become the elevated person you are meant to be.

Reducing your negative, self-limiting beliefs allows you to experience growth in your life that you have never imagined before.

Your entire life can change simply by deciding that you are going to harness the power of positive thinking.