Health professionals have a lot to say about the benefits of positive thinking. In layman’s terms, people who think positively tend to be healthier and more likely to stay well than those who don’t.
It's been said that personality traits such as optimism can have a beneficial effect on your health and play a critical role in stress management. As to what is considered positive thinking, how it can help you, and how you can implement it, we'll cover that in this post.
What is positive thinking?
Positive thinking is focusing on the good in a situation or everyday occurrence. It's avoiding negative and pessimistic thoughts and focusing on how things could be better. People who consistently have positive thoughts are considered optimists.
For example, when an obstacle comes your way, like having a flat tire, you think about how everything will be okay. You say positive words and imagine everything working out in the end.
Positive thinking doesn't mean you're blind to all the world's problems. While you know the world isn't perfect, you realize there's only so much you can do. You focus on the things you can control, and you think about the best possible outcomes.
How positive thinking benefits your health
While there are many benefits positive thinking can have on your health, we're going to focus on three big ones in this post.
Stress and anxiety
Positive thinking is said to help with dealing with stress and anxiety. Even if bad news is delivered, like losing a job, positive thinking people don’t let it break them down. They might be sad and frustrated, but they realize losing a job isn’t the end of the world. Instead, they find ways to carry on with their normal lives and find a new job.
Achieving goals
Optimistic people believe in themselves, which makes them feel more relaxed about achieving their goals. For example, when optimists want to stop drinking alcohol to improve their health, they don't get demoralized if they slip up. Instead, they focus on how they can avoid slipping up in the future.
Adopt healthy lifestyle
Positive thinking can lead you to believe in a better future, which means you are more inclined to make healthy choices and live a healthier lifestyle. For example, if you're going out for dinner, you would choose a dish that is lower in calories and cholesterol. You would also be more likely to engage in physical activity to help burn the excess calories.
How to practice positive thinking
A key part of practicing positive thinking is recognizing when your self-talk or inner thoughts are negative. You want to realize you've engaged in negative thinking and what you can do to change your thoughts into positive responses.
Take a look at these three scenarios:
Scenario 1: You're given a task at work that seems too complicated for you to understand. Instead of giving into negative criticism about how you'll never be able to figure it out, you want to think about how you can approach the task differently. You want to see if there's another angle you can approach or if there's someone who can help you.
Scenario 2: You ask someone on a date, but they reject you. Instead of thinking there's something inherently wrong with you or the person you asked out, think about if there was anything abnormal about the situation. Maybe you came on too strong, or they're not interested in dating someone. Analyze the situation for a bit, figure out what you can improve on, and move on.
Scenario 3: Your local coffee shop is taking your favorite drink off its menu for a new one. Instead of thinking how much you hate the coffee shop for taking away your favorite drink, think about if the new drink will be any good. Give the new drink a chance, and if it isn't any good, consider trying another drink or even a new coffee shop.
Positive thinking isn’t something that can be achieved easily. It takes time, effort, and practice to change your mindset from negative to positive. But with all the benefits it offers, you wouldn't want to miss out. Plus, it's no fun to have your mind dwell on negative thinking consistently.
