Say Hello to Positive Thinking

Is your mind always cluttered with negative thoughts? Do you get anxious or worried because of the thoughts that you are having? Do you have a difficult time coming up with any positive side of a situation? If you answered yes to any of these questions you likely have anxiety, higher levels of stress, fears and/or worry. Dealing with any one of these things in your life can bring strain to many aspects of your life including relationships, your job, your home life, your social life and more. I have lived with excessive worrying and an anxiety disorder which was out of control for about 14 years. I have had numerous anxiety attacks and daily worrying about things that were out of my control. Then, even the things that were in my control I worried too much to change them. I understand how it feels to live on the side of the fence where you feel you are being shocked down every step that you take. That is why I made the choice about a month ago, after finally recognizing that my life couldn’t go on that way, to say hello to positive thinking. Yes, everyone this can be done. I am not fully there yet because I still do have some days where I worry too much but I am now having more good days than bad.

What are Some Ways to Bring Positive Thinking Into Your Life?

Positive thinking is your key to building a healthier lifestyle. I have had many years of experience watching my life go downhill and not being able to manage my life due to negative thoughts. The main reason for this is because I truly believed, as many others with anxiety and/or depression do, that the thoughts in my head were real. Recently, I had a life changing experience. I had to go into the hospital for 6 days due to my anxiety. This changed my life. When I first got there I was still having tons of negative thoughts. I kept thinking that there was no way the hospital could help me because I wasn’t “crazy”. That’s just it they didn’t think I was crazy at all. Those with anxiety and/or depression aren’t crazy. They truly believe the thoughts in their head. However, there are many ways to bring positive thinking into your life. Doing so, can allow you to live a much healthier lifestyle in all aspects of your life.

Challenge your negative thoughts every day. When you are having negative thoughts the first plan of action is going to be to challenge them every day. Eventually, the goal would be to challenge every thought. To start off though, do what you can and catch them when you can. At first, when hearing this recommended advice, I didn’t believe it would work. After the first couple days I was still skeptical but after about a week I was able to challenge about half of my thoughts. Now, a month later I challenge almost all of them. When you challenge your negative thoughts you will catch the thought, decide if it is fact based at all (most of the time it won’t be) and then change the negative thought into a positive thought. Ex: If you are thinking that you don’t deserve the relationship that you have (I have been there) then recognize this thought. I thought about it and realized there was no fact to this, just the thought in my head. Then I turned that thought into a positive one: I am working at my relationship and that work shows I deserve the relationship.

Start off and end your day with a positive affirmation. Also, always tell yourself that you are in control. When you are working to bring more positive into your life, then one of the things that you will probably do is create a daily schedule. As part of your morning routine, I challenge you (for one month-if you miss a day just pick up from the next) to tell yourself a positive affirmation in the mirror. “I am a wonderful person.” Or “I deserve to be happy.” By adding this positive affirmation into your morning routine you may find that your day starts off much better. You can also add a positive affirmation to the end of the day such as “I did my best today.” These affirmations can help you to build your self-confidence. The more self-confidence you have, the more positive thinking you will find. Last but not least, to bring more positivity in to your life always, each day, tell yourself that you are in control at least three times a day.