For me positive thinking means experiencing life through a lens of hope and gratitude. When something doesn’t go our way, it’s about seeing the bright side and focusing on how to achieve the desired outcome going forward, instead of wallowing in sadness. When something does go our way, it’s about being thankful and appreciating the success, instead of feeling entitled. 😄
positive thinking to me is always finding one thing the be thankful for, to focus on the good in our lives, to envision the reality we want. To me positive thinking is what can change my day, my mood & my mental state in an instant.
some days it’s easy some day’s it’s hard. For example today is a difficult day but I know that I’ve got a job that makes me happy, a boyfriend that loves me unconditionally and my two dogs whom always put a smile on my face.
I think negativity or positivity manifests through Feelings, and then to the words we speak and actions we take… feelings are the result of what we think, what we believe, and how we perceive events… Like Dyer wrote: “Change your Thoughts – Change your Life.”
Feelings seem like an end result of how we think 🤔
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I love love love this question
(It’s going to be a lengthy answer so brace yourself 😉)
1. A year and a half ago I imagined my PERFECT DAY – what I felt, what I did, who I was with etc.
2. I mulled over the above for a while, and then started gathering pictures that fleshed out my PERFECT DAY from Pinterest and Instagram
3. I made a slide show / movie of my PERFECT DAY that I decided to watch as soon as I woke up and the last thing I did before I went to bed
4. What 1,2 & 3 did was crystallise my purpose and ultimate desire for myself (I made sure that my PERFECT DAY was my true and sincere desire for myself)
5. NOW – because I had a focus and a direction – anything that moved me in the opposite direction from my desire is something “negative” ….. to my surprise I found out that my ability to multi-task and work 16 hour days are actually negatives (even though those were traits I glorified and humble-bragged about all my life) and taking one absolute day off every week without fail, scheduling telephone conversations with my friend tribe every day and establishing clear boundaries in all my relationships – instead of just being spontaneous (like I’ve always been) these were clear positives
5. I have to now ask myself, “Is my PERFECT DAY worth changing myself for?”
6. Because the answer was a resounding YES, I started developing new habits …… by keeping my focus on my PERFECT DAY.
7. When we “alienate” “starve” “ignore” any part of our psyche, that starving part will one day come roaring out as a lion …. and we call this self-sabotage
Because I didn’t want this to happen, and because we all intrinsically know that we know that we know, that we are who we are and nothing will change that, why not make friends will all aspects of myself and get to be in my PERFECT DAY as a flawed masterpiece?
8. So I do THE WORK by Byron Katie, meditate and do yoga, take a day off to just be with the voices and sensations inside me etc etc …… no judgement that this thought shouldn’t be here or that feeling is unedifying …… just me and my unique messiness, quietly getting to know each other and establishing trust
9. All my “negativity” and “positivity” actually want, is my attention and focus. Once they get it, it’s like a freeing integration. That’s all. No drama, no men in white with butterfly nets chasing me down the street …. nothing really. Very anti-climactic all this shadow work’s turning out to be 😂
10. And then I live in the reality of my making 😊
All my life, I’ve tried to be a “positive person” and never really succeeded because I didn’t have a plan and a purpose. It’s like my friend once advised another friend – who was always talking about finding true love and marrying the perfect prince and living happily ever after – “you keep shaking a hoe tree hoping a husband will fall out of it”
Once we establish what we really want and focus on it, anything (habit, personality trait, emotional baggage etc) that weighs us in the opposite direction can be called a “negative” trait
The trick is to not ignore it or amputate it
The task is in loving those parts of us that are not actually serving us by taking us towards our goals, so that these parts will not cause us to “self sabotage” …. all the while keeping the focus on our ultimate desire
That’s why vague and generic “positivity” and “negativity” are just scattered concepts that will ultimately just frustrate us and keep us running in an emotional treadmill not actually going anywhere but feeling unhinged and exhausted just the same
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Wow! Thank you very much for this awesome comment! Intent is the key and commitment is the door. Congratulations for getting here!
The more I observe my negative thoughts and reactions, the more I’m able to catch what isn’t helpful, and use the negatives as launching pads for reflection and growth. So more and more, this leads to positive results.
for me, it’s focusing on the good part even while keeping in mind the bad ones. Working or at least trying to turn those bad parts into good ones , for me, surely does indicate a positive mindset.
Something I need to work on.
How would your life look like if you were better at this?
I’m not really sure….To be honest I think I don’t think positively very often because I don’t want to deal with more disappointment.
Positive thinking is being optimistic.
Interesting association. I’m wondering if there are any differences between the two…
For me positive thinking means experiencing life through a lens of hope and gratitude. When something doesn’t go our way, it’s about seeing the bright side and focusing on how to achieve the desired outcome going forward, instead of wallowing in sadness. When something does go our way, it’s about being thankful and appreciating the success, instead of feeling entitled. 😄
Thank you for writing down my answer for me! Lol! This is exactly what I was thinking. 🤓
Haha, my pleasure! Great minds think alike! 😉
So it’s about a way to see the full half of the cup 🙂
Yeah, I think it boils down to perspective. 😄
positive thinking to me is always finding one thing the be thankful for, to focus on the good in our lives, to envision the reality we want. To me positive thinking is what can change my day, my mood & my mental state in an instant.
How easy/hard is it for you to do that?
some days it’s easy some day’s it’s hard. For example today is a difficult day but I know that I’ve got a job that makes me happy, a boyfriend that loves me unconditionally and my two dogs whom always put a smile on my face.
Wholeheartedly embracing my “negativity”
That is interesting! It is releasing resistance to negativity which helps with healing. Acceptance and then transformation.
Interesting. How does your “negativity” manifest?
I think negativity or positivity manifests through Feelings, and then to the words we speak and actions we take… feelings are the result of what we think, what we believe, and how we perceive events… Like Dyer wrote: “Change your Thoughts – Change your Life.”
Feelings seem like an end result of how we think 🤔
I love love love this question
(It’s going to be a lengthy answer so brace yourself 😉)
1. A year and a half ago I imagined my PERFECT DAY – what I felt, what I did, who I was with etc.
2. I mulled over the above for a while, and then started gathering pictures that fleshed out my PERFECT DAY from Pinterest and Instagram
3. I made a slide show / movie of my PERFECT DAY that I decided to watch as soon as I woke up and the last thing I did before I went to bed
4. What 1,2 & 3 did was crystallise my purpose and ultimate desire for myself (I made sure that my PERFECT DAY was my true and sincere desire for myself)
5. NOW – because I had a focus and a direction – anything that moved me in the opposite direction from my desire is something “negative” ….. to my surprise I found out that my ability to multi-task and work 16 hour days are actually negatives (even though those were traits I glorified and humble-bragged about all my life) and taking one absolute day off every week without fail, scheduling telephone conversations with my friend tribe every day and establishing clear boundaries in all my relationships – instead of just being spontaneous (like I’ve always been) these were clear positives
5. I have to now ask myself, “Is my PERFECT DAY worth changing myself for?”
6. Because the answer was a resounding YES, I started developing new habits …… by keeping my focus on my PERFECT DAY.
7. When we “alienate” “starve” “ignore” any part of our psyche, that starving part will one day come roaring out as a lion …. and we call this self-sabotage
Because I didn’t want this to happen, and because we all intrinsically know that we know that we know, that we are who we are and nothing will change that, why not make friends will all aspects of myself and get to be in my PERFECT DAY as a flawed masterpiece?
8. So I do THE WORK by Byron Katie, meditate and do yoga, take a day off to just be with the voices and sensations inside me etc etc …… no judgement that this thought shouldn’t be here or that feeling is unedifying …… just me and my unique messiness, quietly getting to know each other and establishing trust
9. All my “negativity” and “positivity” actually want, is my attention and focus. Once they get it, it’s like a freeing integration. That’s all. No drama, no men in white with butterfly nets chasing me down the street …. nothing really. Very anti-climactic all this shadow work’s turning out to be 😂
10. And then I live in the reality of my making 😊
All my life, I’ve tried to be a “positive person” and never really succeeded because I didn’t have a plan and a purpose. It’s like my friend once advised another friend – who was always talking about finding true love and marrying the perfect prince and living happily ever after – “you keep shaking a hoe tree hoping a husband will fall out of it”
Once we establish what we really want and focus on it, anything (habit, personality trait, emotional baggage etc) that weighs us in the opposite direction can be called a “negative” trait
The trick is to not ignore it or amputate it
The task is in loving those parts of us that are not actually serving us by taking us towards our goals, so that these parts will not cause us to “self sabotage” …. all the while keeping the focus on our ultimate desire
That’s why vague and generic “positivity” and “negativity” are just scattered concepts that will ultimately just frustrate us and keep us running in an emotional treadmill not actually going anywhere but feeling unhinged and exhausted just the same
Wow! Thank you very much for this awesome comment! Intent is the key and commitment is the door. Congratulations for getting here!
Thoughts that lead me to positive results!
If you think about the majority of your thoughts, do they lead you to positive results?
The more I observe my negative thoughts and reactions, the more I’m able to catch what isn’t helpful, and use the negatives as launching pads for reflection and growth. So more and more, this leads to positive results.
It means thinking with a positive mindset .
Yes, very true. How would you define a positive mindset? For me, it’s the ability to see the good part in everything without ignoring the bad ones.
for me, it’s focusing on the good part even while keeping in mind the bad ones. Working or at least trying to turn those bad parts into good ones , for me, surely does indicate a positive mindset.
Whatever happens is for my ultimate good
I guess that somehow it is. We can always find something good as long as we’re looking for it.
👍🏾👏
Negation of negativity.
Which sometimes is not useful at all…
…and how is that?
Thinking that I can do anything and everything!
I hope you feel and think that a lot!
To be realistic.
Great approach! I totally agree with this description.