Thoughts become things; powerful things.
If you “think” about it, your thoughts really are your most powerful asset – or, ‘power.’ They are your superpower. You have the ability to create the world around you, simply through manifesting what you think.
Positive thinking is a mental attitude in which you expect good and favorable results. In other words, positive thinking is the process of creating thoughts that create and transform energy into reality. A positive mind waits for happiness, health, and a happy ending in any situation. – James Clear
If you don’t like what you’re thinking, change it.
In the real world, this idea of positive thinking seems simple and rather surface level, if not silly and over-obvious. Our society values persistence, hard-work, and dedication and drive more than anything as we judge “good lives” and success.
However, current research shows that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or displaying an upbeat attitude. Positive thoughts can actually create real value in your life and help you build skills that last much longer than just a simple smile or fleeting memory.
How Positive Thinking Builds Skills
Barbara Fredrickson is a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina and has become the leading expert in the realm of positive thinking.
She provides the example of learned and pre-programmed human behavior. Negative emotions program our brains for certain reactions, and, over time , have wired us to be a certain way. When a ferocious tiger crossed our path, way back when, we ran. The rest of the world didn’t matter. We were focused entirely on the tiger, the fear it created, and how to get away from it. Our brain ignored the logical options that surrounded us (maybe climb a tree or grab a stick) because they seemed irrelevant when the tiger was standing in front of us. This WAS a useful instinct when we were fighting for life and limb. But we don’t live in those circumstances anymore and our brains are still naturally programmed this way – unless we make the effort to change that. When negative emotions arise, we are prone to shut off the outside world and limit or ignore the options around us.
Fredrickson’s current research displays that when we experience positive emotions like joy, contentment, and love (rather than fear), we automatically sense more possibilities in our surroundings and our lives.
However, our ability to see opportunity in the moment isn’t all that happens when thinking positively. As we regularly practice thinking good thoughts, we enhance our ability to build skills and develop resources later in life. We learn to associate happiness with the creation of new things and the ability to “broaden and build.” <<Read More Here
So, if we are inherently programmed towards the fight or flight response of negativity, eliminating our options in life, how do we change that and bring more positive thinking into our lives? Well, it’s different for everyone. Anything that increases YOUR joy, contentment, and well-being, and that puts a smile on your face is the answer. Singing, tapping your toes, playing the guitar, walking in the woods, drawing with markers, throwing pottery, or experimenting in the kitchen – what tickles your fancy?
DO more of those things and then THINK more about those things! Remember how great it felt to decorate those Christmas cookies for hours in the kitchen last year? THINK about that feeling, smile, feel it in your heart, and change the world around you. Create Happy Trees. Those happy thoughts become happy things.
