The Gift of Positive Thinking

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelias

 

This is a gift-giving time of year for many people.

 

We give to our partners, our family members and our special friends. We spend hours looking for the right gifts and wrapping them with loving care. Yet many people walk away from the holidays feeling unfulfilled.

 

This holiday, I invite you to try something new. I invite you to begin with yourself.

“But wait – it’s Christmas day. I don’t have time to do any shopping and I’m all out of money,” you might say.

 

Don’t worry. This gift doesn’t involve any shopping and it isn’t time-consuming.

 

You can do it anywhere and you can do it several times a day.

 

It’s the practice of positive thinking.

 

It’s a skill you can learn and polish every day. And it’s immensely valuable.

 

In fact, research shows that of all the qualities inherent in highly successful and happy people, optimism is the most important.

 

Here are 5 ways to start:

 

1. Make a choice to do it.

 

2. Get a general idea of your thinking. This is easy; just pay attention to your thoughts today and over the next few days.

 

3. Notice patterns. Do certain things trigger you? Do you wake up expecting to have a bad day? When life throws you a curveball, do you stay off track? Do you look at certain people or situations as negative?

 

4. Meditate. Along with lower blood pressure and increased focus and creativity, meditation  also aids in positive thinking. A wise person once said it’s like taking your brain to the gym. If you don’t take your body to the gym or get regular physical activity, your muscles and bones are weak The same is true for your mind; it is a tool that requires regular activity to be its best. If you’d like to worry and obsess less and think more positively, give meditation a shot. It doesn’t take long to reap the rewards, particularly the ability to consciously choose certain thoughts over others.

 

5. Create an action plan. Once your negative thinking patterns are clear, create an action plan. Commit to meditating at least once a day or increase it to two if you already do it once. Also think about what you can do when you notice yourself going into negative thinking. Can you look at it as a positive? Can you look for the good? Writing your plan down in advance of stressful situations is key. That way, you’ll know exactly what you need to do when something arises.

 

6. Be gentle with yourself while learning. If you’re new to this way of thinking, be gentle with yourself. Do not expect miraculous changes overnight, but know that you can change your thinking. Praise yourself for any positive steps forward and don’t get discouraged when you find yourself slipping into old patterns.

 

The average person has 65,000 thoughts a day. How positive are yours?

 

Action step: how will you give yourself the gift of positive thinking today? Scroll down and leave me a comment below telling me. I love hearing from you!