The Power of Positive Thinking
Introduction
Positive thinking is a concept used to mean that people can change their lives by thinking about things in their lives positively. Sometimes referred to as a positive mindset, positive thinking can also be described as emotional or mental attitudes that focus on the bright side of life while expecting positive results. This idea may seem fluffy, which may also be a problem for many people who believe that just having positive thoughts cannot change the world. Nevertheless, numerous research works have proved that the idea or concept of positive thinking has a scientific basis. While people may not be able to change their world, they have the ability to change how they perceive it, and how they react to it. By simply having positive thoughts, we can change how we feel about ourselves and others, which in turn can have a positive effect on our well-being. This essay argues that having positive thoughts and a positive mindset can have positive effects on how we perceive ourselves and how we do things. But first, a description of negative thinking or mindset will be provided as well as its negative effects on how we perceive ourselves and how we do things.
Negative Thinking/Mindset and its Effects
Negative thinking can be described as thought processes where people imagine the worst or lower their expectations by imagining the worst scenarios possible. It is a mindset that is characterized by feelings of stress, sadness and worry. All human beings do have negative thoughts, but there are some people who have a full reservoir, which often results in a negative self-image. When people allow negative thoughts to cloud their minds over time, they begin to lose their character strengths. People may wonder where negative thoughts originate from. In most cases, people begin to have negative thoughts about themselves when they hear people make negative remarks about them. Other people may, for instance, comments that we are not smart enough, we took too little or too much, we dress poorly, we have poor concentration, just to name a few. With time, people begin to make negative remarks or comments as absolute truths about themselves.
Having a negative mindset or focusing on negative things can lead to feelings of helplessness and decreased motivation. People who are constantly having negative thoughts also tend to be more distressed in life because they find themselves in situations where their world is altered and experiences created that makes them unable to reach their goals. Negative thinking lowers the ability of people to see opportunities in their surroundings and their motivation to capitalize on the opportunities. The reason for this is that when they have negative thoughts or a negative mindset, they convince themselves that they cannot do anything. Additionally, people with negative mindsets have relationship problems because they feel insecure and needy, and their negativity can turn into behaviours that bother other people. For instance, even “playful” amounts of criticism can make them angered.
Relationship between Positive Thinking/Mindset and Self-Image
Self-image is a term used to describe the “value” that people place on themselves as persons, and on the things they do, such as feeling good or bad about themselves. The self-image that people place on themselves (whether good or bad, high or low) comes from what they think about themselves, and not what other people think about them. In other words, our self-image is what we think about ourselves, not how other people view us: accepting ourselves the way we are regardless of our limitations; loving ourselves and treating ourselves as special and unique; having the feeling that we can overcome challenges in life, etc. While the world is full of judgments, expectations and standards, it is the judgments, expectations and standards that we choose to hold and accept that determine our self-image and the experiences we have in life.
One thing that slips our minds most of the time is that our self-image is correlated to our thoughts (our criticisms, beliefs, expectations, values, standards and judgments. Because of this correlation, we must learn how to manage our own thinking. Positive thinking is a thinking habit that is balanced, rational, realistic, helpful, and solution-based. Having positive thoughts or a positive mindset not only improves our self-image, but it also improves our health, our moods, and our ability to solve our problems in life. And as explained above, a negative mindset or negative thinking decreases our motivation and increases our anxiety. It prevents us from fro trying to do things and to test the accuracy of our negativity.
Human beings derive their self-image or self-esteem from their criticisms, their past experiences, their failures and successes, their standards, their connectedness with others, and their belief systems. However, it is the way they perceive these things that determine their self-image. Encouragements from other people, learning to live with our weaknesses, forgiving our mistakes and those of others, hearing kind words from special persons in our lives, sharing time with other, and hugging are all positive behaviours that can boost our self-image and self-esteem. Judgments, on the other hand, make our self-image conditional, meaning that we must satisfy or meet certain standards, expectations or criteria: wanting to do things perfectly all the time, wanting to achieve perfection in all things, etc. When we accept the negative criticisms and the unrelenting and unrealistic standards that other people use to describe us, we endanger our self-image. Furthermore, we also place our self-image or self-esteem in danger is we are always comparing ourselves with other people or when we fail to recognize and accept the fact that we all go through different circumstances in life, and that we are all unique in our own ways.
People with a positive mindset do not only enjoy a positive self-image a motivation to do things. There are also other benefits attached to having a positive image and positive thoughts, such as being resilient. Resilience is the ability of people to deal with problems in their lives. Unlike people with a negative image and negative thinking, being positive in life increase the chances of people to deal with trauma or crisis. Instead of falling apart during when they experience trauma or crisis, they get the ability to positively confront their challenges in life and emerge victoriously. In the face of crisis or problems, people with a negative attitude will lack the strength and the motivation to get up and confront their challenges; positive thinkers would not do this.
In recognition of the above benefits of having a positive mindset or positive thinking, it would also be worthwhile to discuss some of the strategies that people can use to dispel negative thinking and nurture positive things. The following sections will be dedicated to this.
How to Achieve a Positive Mindset
We have all heard the saying that our lives are a reflection of our attitudes. Considering the fact that we are constantly exposed to negative things (such as through the media or through our personal experiences), we should learn how to dispel negative thoughts from our minds and replace them with positive ones. As evidenced by the discussions above, negative thoughts can prevent us from enjoying our lives to the fullest. Therefore, the most important thing we can do for ourselves, for our communities, and for those that we cherish is to learn to have a positive mindset. In other words, if we want to have a better world, we must begin by changing ourselves. Discussed below are some habits that people can nurture so that they can begin to have positive attitudes, thoughts and mindset.
Focusing on Good Things
Sometimes even a single event, experience or interaction can ruin and overshadow enjoyable parts of our day. With the awareness that human minds tend to concentrate more on negative things, we can offset negative thoughts by training our minds to be focusing on positive things. Keeping a gratitude journal can be helpful in this situation. For instance, recording positive things from our day in our gratitude journal can alter our thoughts and mindset positively. Gratitude can increase our happiness and protect us from depression, stress, anxiety and negativity.
Getting used to being Rejected/Disappointments
Getting used to rejection is a skill that we all must master. The reason for this is that it is impossible to go through life without being disappointed or rejected at some point. If we accept this fact, our minds can miraculously find ways to deal with disappointments and rejection. But if we allow ourselves to be pinned down, we lose control of our inner selves.
Describing our Lives Positively
How we choose to describe our lives matters a lot, and the words we describe our lives with have a lot of power. In other words, our lives turn out to be the way we choose to talk about them because our minds can hear what we say. If we choose to describe our lives as chaotic, boring, and mundane, then that’s how we will perceive our lives to be and how we will feel in our minds and in our bodies. But if we choose positive words to describe our lives such as lively, simple, familiar, involved, etc., we feel joy and enjoyment and fulfilment in our bodies and in our minds.
Making other People Happy
As human beings, we are wired to think about our own welfare most of the time. We are always worried about how we will eat our hygiene, our health, etc. However, there is power in giving joy to other people too. If we can set aside some part of our lives to visit the sick in hospitals or to feed some poor families or individuals, we will be able to attain some positivity in life. There is joy in knowing that we have been of help to others. To cultivate a positive mindset, we could begin to set some time aside to be helping the less fortunate in our communities.
Conclusion
The focus of this essay was to discuss the relationship between self-image and a positive mindset or a positive attitude. As explained above, having a positive mindset involves focusing on the positive side of life and dispelling negative thinking. Negative thinking leads to poor self-esteem, depression, and lack of motivation to do things in life. But when we focus on positive things in life, we are empowered to pursue our goals in life, we become more resilient, and we conduct ourselves positively even in the face of disappointments and negative criticism. Instead of harbouring negative feelings, therefore, people should be more concerned about nurturing positive thoughts and having positive mindsets. The attitudes we choose to carry are reflected in the way we live our lives. Some few tips on how people can nurture a positive mindset have also been provided above, such as focusing on good things, describing our lives positively, making other people happy and accepting that disappointments and rejections are part of life.
Works Cited