The Art of Being Positive

“Always keep your face towards the sunshine, the shadows will fall behind you.”-

Walt Whitman.

Why Stay Positive?

This article focuses on how to remain positive. Being positive brings a lot of new hopes to our lives. It affects how we perceive things and how we make decisions. In short, it is influential in all the things we do. Apart from us as individuals, having a positive attitude also affects the people around us. It helps them gain a positive outlook as well. So, positivity is contagious and in a good way. That is why it is necessary that we understand what is positivity and how it affects us and how can we change our ways and become more positive.

 

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What is having a positive attitude? And why is it important?

Having an optimist perspective is said to be the concept that can change your life around. It is also known that when you have a better and more positive lookout for things, you can be more satisfied with results. Many people consider this kind of attitude very soft, and not so them. But they fail to understand the importance of having it. And many times, these people bring down other people with them. This is why you need to help them as well to see the positive side of life. The world could really change if everybody had this kind of perspective.

Apart from the rest, it has been scientifically proven that being positive about life really does change things for the best. Learn to become the change that you want to witness in the around you and around your surroundings. This thought carries a lot of weight when it comes to positive thinking. How we interpret this is what makes the change come around. Positive thinking will also have a huge impact on your well being and the well being of the people around you.

 

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Effect of negative thinking

When we talk about positive thinking, it is necessary that we look at negative thinking as well. Negative thoughts are said to be the onset of mental health issues and mental disorders and illnesses. While positive thoughts include feelings of happiness and euphoria, negative thoughts include feelings of anger, stress and frustration. Apart from this, negative thinking has also said to be a cause of depression and suicidal tendencies. Such thoughts make you feel hopeless towards the future. It negatively impacts your decision making processes. It can you feel paranoid towards people and have hostile relations.

Negative thinking also affects the people around you. It changes your behaviour and you tend to be meaner towards them and they feel it. It makes them be bitter to you and hence the cycle continues. So just how positive thinking affects people, negative thinking is the same. The burden of choosing which side we want to be on falls on us. And this is an important burden which you cannot ignore or keep it for later. The choice you make about this can either make or break you. But if you choose to be on the negative side of things, you can always, ALWAYS, try for the other positive side. It is a very changeable and easy road to take which does not require much from you. It only requires you to see the good there is.

 

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The Placebo Effect

In medical science, there is a phenomenon known as the placebo effect. In this effect, instead of giving a patient tablets and medicines, they give their patients a sweet candy or flavoured water. This may seem small but it has a big impact on the patients. The way they see their treatment and their ailment changes. And they start building a more positive response to the treatment. This actually helps in their treatment. Their bodies respond better and take a newer, faster pace of recovery. This is a small example of how positive thinking can affect you and your life.

 

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How to cultivate the habit of being positive:

Now that we know and understand what is a positive attitude and how important it is and how it changes us. Let us begin to learn how to bring this change in you. There are a few things you can learn to do to start up the process of becoming positive.

Try finding the affirmative point of view in a negative situation: It is important that we learn to see the optimist side of things in a bad situation. Even if we think we cannot find it, we should definitely try harder. Everything has good and bad. We’re often so blinded by the bad that we don’t look at the good. You should also try finding opportunities in situations. After doing so, make a small list in your head and you will have your positive attitude towards the situation ready.

Live in a positive surrounding: Create a positive environment around you. Be optimistic and help others see that perspective as well. This helps when you are lost and in a dark place where you cannot see the light, the things around help you find your way. Help you maintain a positive and healthy attitude. It also includes the people you spend time with, the shows you watch, the way you spend your day. Having positive people around is very much needed. People who have a negative aura can pass it to you as well. They are held back people and they hold you back as well. They can put you down just because they are not confident enough about something. This is why you should have a positive influence around you and more importantly, have positive people around you.

Set a slower pace: Go slowly. It is not a race.  If you go fast or if you try to think too ahead, you may not be able to achieve what you set out for. It is important that you take one step at a time. And take your time while taking the step. Notice the changes that it brings. Notice the consequences of your actions, good or bad. Analyze them and keep changing them accordingly.  Also if you go too fast, you start feeling stressed out. Which leads to having negative thoughts. You even end up having negative thoughts about the whole process of positive thinking. That is why it is important to take your time and space out and go along.

Don’t lose perspective: Do not lose sight of what you have set out to do. It is very easy to lose sight. You need to learn to say no to yourself when you feel like quitting. Build up the courage to proceed and go ahead with the procedure. Do not look at a small thing and become unconfident and overthink about it and create a mountain of it in your head. When you feel like you’re heading down that path, say stop. Take a deep breathe and calm yourself down. Let go of that thought slowly. And then build focus again over it and think positively about it. Ask yourself is it worth the negativity it brings? Will it matter in the next 5 years or even in the next 3 weeks. The answer to these questions will help you understand how temporary and small your problem really is and how irrelevant it is for your future.

Don’t let fear take control: I repeat, do not let fear take a hold of you. Having fears is normal, everybody has them but letting them control you, letting them stop you from achieving what you want is not right. Go beyond those fears. There is a world full of opportunities waiting for you to grab them. Many times there is a chance in front of you and you do not take it because it is completely new. It is something else from what you are always used to. You need to learn to get out of the zone of comfort and experience things. There are so many possibilities of what the outcome could be but you will never know if you do not take that opportunity at that time. And in the end, you will always have some sort of regret for it, it may even make you feel unsatisfied with your life and lead you towards issues like stress and depression.

Be a positive influence in somebody else’s life: Apart from trying to be positive for yourself, also help somebody else figure this journey out. Learning how to stay positive is not always supposed to be a one-man job. If you spread positivity, you may never know who it is reaching. Maybe a person fighting depression or some other mental illness who is too sad and shy to come out but your kind words have made their day and now they are seeing a better life through a better perspective. Being kind to others is always effective and it never has side effects. You can always be nice to people and spread positivity around and become the person you aspire to be.