Celebrating Positive Thinking Day |14 September 2016

Are our thoughts aligned with the goals and dreams we have?

Everything we do starts with one thought. Our successes and failures are made from chain of thoughts leading into actions or inaction, belief or doubts, result or repetitive outcomes, be it consciously or without you even realising it. 

Having a positive outlook is a choice. You can choose to think thoughts that elevate your mood, throw a more constructive light on difficult situations, and generally colour your day with brighter, more hopeful approaches to the things you do. By choosing to take a positive outlook on life, you can begin to shift out of a negative frame of mind and see life as filled with possibilities and solutions instead of worries and obstacles.

Maybe most of you are comfortable with your thoughts. We may not think much about it even. Imagine what would happen if we could improve the quality of our thoughts. Some never stop to think or assess their own, but the quality of our thoughts can have massive influence on what future we create for ourselves. Sometimes we can blame it on someone else, but is it really in our advantage to blame someone else?

Some of you feel that destiny is inevitable and what you get is what you were supposed to get. This isn’t always true. I will never tell someone he is not successful because this was not meant for him but that, he may be unsuccessful in this situation now, but HE has the power to make his life the way he wants it to be.

Whether this would be destiny or not a big part of it has to do with your choice, your consciousness and what you decide to focus your energy in.

We wake up every day not thinking much about the most powerful and complex asset of ours, our brain, we usually train it or force a lot of information in it. Remember fun things, memories that are good but we take little time to think about our consciousness, its health and whether we would sustain the lives we want. Little do we know about how detrimental this ignorance can be to our lives and what impact one negative thought put into process may have. Are our thoughts aligned with the goals and dreams we have?

How does it work?

I am sure some of you have experienced a bright day with nothing to complain. Either, you’re healthy, you have somewhere to be, a purpose to fulfil, you’re loved and appreciated, bottom line you’re living. Your first thought is “I don’t want to wake up” if you continue it’s “why is it Monday already?” “Why do I have to go to school/work” “Uhh why me”. You might be right depending on your situation and some of you might not even mean it. But guess what it doesn’t matter. You had your thoughts, you added emphasis to it and your feeling towards it was negative and that’s what will keep happening. Next thing you know you’re living a life waiting for Fridays. In your entire life is it fulfilling to have only 3 days out of 7 that’s worth looking forward to? That will continue to happen and you won’t even look forward anymore.

Now a different scenario, you wake up each morning, you know you’re tired, you’re lazy to wake up or it just feels comfortable underneath the covers. Let’s not get crazy, your first thought might still be “I don’t want to wake up” but your second thought can be better: “I know I don’t want to wake up now but once I do I can accomplish a lot” or better yet “At least I am blessed to open my eyes today”.

These thoughts in the morning will empower you like no other. You’ll have a clearer mind-set, greater perspective on what you intend to do and you will be able to deal positively with situations without stressing you out. Your chances of having a good day is almost guaranteed, at least you have a better chance than doing otherwise.

How can you celebrate Positive Thinking Day?

If you are not sure what to do to celebrate, here are a few suggestions.

• Start the day positively by saying “Today is a good day!” This will set the tone for the day ahead of you.
• Make a list of things you are grateful for. This will keep you focused on what’s working in your life and encourage more of that.
• Say some affirmations. These are positive sentences about you or your circumstances that can give you boldness, confidence and self-esteem.
• Hang around positive people or foster this way of thinking.
• Show gratitude for the simple things in life.
• Read or watch positive, motivational books and movies.
• Be kind to someone today.
• Minimise external influences that stimulate your negativity. You may find that certain kinds of music or violent video games or movies influence your overall attitude. Try minimising your exposure to stressful or violent stimuli and spend more time listening to calming or empowered music or reading. Music benefits your mind really well and books on positive thinking can provide good tips for being a happier person.
• Finally, the best thing you can do for yourself and others, today and everyday is to simply smile.

If you want to continue to see the benefits of thinking positive start to

• Assess your way of thinking
• Identify automatic negative thoughts and learn to shift them regularly
• Challenge your negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts
• Choose a more balanced way of thought rather than filtering and hearing only the negative side. You may spot solutions you never intended to consider.
• Avoid panicking and understand that things may not seem great and how we want it to be at the moment but be positive that solutions exist and we just have to keep calm, remove all doubts and think it!

The importance of thinking positive

Understand the benefits of being a positive thinker. Choosing to think more positively will not only help you take control of your life and make your everyday experiences more pleasant, but it can also benefit your mental and physical health as well as your ability to deal with change. Being aware of these benefits can help you be even more motivated to think positively on a regular basis

Vivienne Gertrude had this to say about why she thinks thinking positive is important:

“For me positive thinking enables me to stay focused and to pay close attention to my life’s aspiration. The outcome of my thinking and analysis on any issues are always in a positive manner either outright or after having considered the pros and cons of an issue. I am a firm believer that every situation in life is supposed to teach us about something new and that difficult times bring hope. I also believe that the power of positive thinking pushes us beyond our deepest fears and enables us to see and do the unthinkable and things which we would never believe in achieving otherwise. On my end, positive thinking at its best works alongside a strong faith in God and strong beliefs which are founded upon firm principles in spirituality and ethics.  Above all it enables me to control what I can control (that is my own thoughts and ultimately my actions) and to leave the uncontrollable beyond my reach (that is God the Almighty.”

Living an optimistic life

Give yourself time to change. Developing a positive outlook is actually the development of a skill. As with any skill, it takes time to master, and it requires dedicated practice and gentle reminders about not falling back into negative thinking.

Being scared to fail won’t keep you from failing but seeking success despite the possibility of failure is the real deal. Imagine if a baby is always scared to fall, he will never start walking. We would not even know the possibility of walking! Just because there is a possibility to fall doesn’t make it impossible to walk. Take this bigger, think you can, be positive about it. Do not fear what you love to do no matter how many possibilities of failing there can be. We all need to guarantee at least that one success and this is the power of positive thinking. To allow you to venture in what you want, and be full of energy for it. Getting back up to go for it. That’s how a winner does it. Happy Positive Thinking Day. If you were waiting for a sign to go for your dreams. This is it. BELIEVE!

Contributed