A positive attitude is healthy for your mind and body, helps you deal with stress, and allows you to enjoy life more.
The benefits of positive thinking have been long debated and proved by many scientists. A person with a positive attitude will be a lot more successful in overcoming professional obstacles, disease, or personal struggles. It’s almost like the Universe is working in favor of optimists. Can we attract things with our minds? I wouldn’t go that far. But I do know that positive people are quicker to notice an opportunity, they are better at dealing with a crisis, and are more eager to fight than pessimists. All these abilities help you overcome anything if you maintain a positive attitude towards life.
“A positive attitude is a person’s passport to a better tomorrow.” - Jeff Keller
Someone who thinks “I can overcome this disease!” is more likely to actually survive it than someone who says “I’m going to die anyway.” Firstly, they are willing to fight. And secondly, they put all their energy into healing, instead of wasting it on complaining, hurting, or feeling sorry for themselves.
When reaching a professional obstacle, an optimist believes there is a solution and works hard to find it, while a pessimist despairs and gives up. A positive person believes that everything will be ok, and puts all their energy into making that happen, while a negative person finds all the excuses and reasons not to.
Long story short, positive people have better lives not because the stars align in their favor, but because their attitude allows them to see opportunities, find ways out of a crisis, and fight anything coming their way, because they truly believe things will work out eventually.
The mind and the body are connected.
When I was fighting cancer, everyone kept telling me how crucial the mind is in this fight of the body. That you can’t really heal unless you are positive. As I have always been a positive person, I didn’t have to change anything. I did my treatment, kept a positive attitude, made a lot of inappropriate jokes, and in no time, the nightmare was over. But I did see a lot of people struggling a lot more because, on top of their physical disease, they also carried a lot of pain in their souls. For them, the fight was a way lot harder, and many lost it. They simply gave up, because they had to heal both their minds and bodies, and it was simply too much to carry.
What positive people do differently.
Positive people are more likely to take chances. They are less stressed. They see opportunities, make investments, and take “crazy” decisions like “quit the job I hate and start my own business.” They are less stressed, more creative, and as a result, more likely to come up with a brilliant idea. If they fail, they get up on their feet and try again. They are more likely to make new friends and connections. As a result, positive people are more successful.
When I was struggling financially, someone told me that I had to think about making a lot of money, and they’d just come to me. I laughed, and I laughed, and I laughed, and I called her crazy. She wasn’t 100% wrong. Obviously, you don’t just think about money, and they fall out of the sky. But if you have a positive way of thinking, you are more likely to succeed.
Positive people are happier. They don’t get upset easily. They don’t get into arguments. If someone says something that might offend them, they usually drop it, instead of making a big deal over it. They don’t get into drama, ignore gossip and scandals, and just enjoy the things that make them happy. They ignore what’s negative and focus on the good in their life. They spend more time with friends and family and appreciate happy moments more. They are grateful, meaning they value and cherish what they have, instead of complaining about what they lack. They are more generous, hopeful, and forgiving. They have friends, they are more likely to find love, and don’t waste time on things that don’t really matter.
How to become a positive person:
You don’t just put happy thoughts in your mind and become an optimist overnight. Your mind needs training, you need to learn some new behaviors and drop some old, toxic ones. However, anyone can do it, step by step. Here are 10 things to begin with:
1. Be careful about what you eat and make sure you get plenty of minerals and vitamins. Drink plenty of water. Sometimes you want to break a coworker’s leg, but in reality, you’re just thirsty.
2. Get plenty of sleep. Exercise, go for a walk every day and breathe some clean air. Make sure the sun sees you for 15 minutes every day.
3. Help others. Be generous and kind. Do something nice for someone else, a friend, a coworker, or a stranger. Kindness makes us feel good.
4. Practice gratitude. Each morning, make a list of 10 things you are thankful for.
5. Focus on the good things in your life. For example, at the end of the day, put aside what went wrong, and go over the nice things that happened to you.
6. Laugh every day. Read funny jokes, watch a comedy, and find humor even in the worst situations. It helps.
7. Praise yourself for each success, no matter how small. Celebrate each achievement, even if it’s just you remembering to take the trash.
8. Stay away from drama, gossip, and bad news. Turn off the tv, and read a good book instead.
9. Spend time with positive people and avoid toxic individuals.
10. Focus on the present. Don’t stress over the future, and leave the past where it belongs – back there, where we can never, ever return, no matter how hard we try.
These are just a few things you can do every day. Train your mind to see the positive side of life and enjoy every day. People have called me crazy for finding the strength to laugh when death was looking me straight in the eyes, but I do believe it was my positive attitude that got me through it all. trust me… life is too short to be negative.
