Positive thinking- how many times have you come across this term in your life? Maybe you heard it from your doctor when you visited him or her for a consultation. Or perhaps you were searching for some useful tips on personal development and you were bombarded by this term over and over. Or was it your yoga teacher who was recommending it to you?
What on Earth is Positive Thinking?
It is really strange that the more you have heard about certain things the less you actually understand about them. Positive thinking in all probability belongs to the same category of things for most people. In fact most of us tend to misunderstand this wonderful concept and that is where the real trouble lies.
People tend to use the literal meaning of the term to comprehend it and hence they think that it involves controlling your mind and deliberately thinking just happy or positive thoughts. Nothing could be more erroneous than this, because one thing is quite certain and that is the fact that it is highly impossible to filter your thoughts and block the sad thoughts or depressing ones and allow just the happy thoughts to enter and linger.
What It Actually Means?
The actual concept of positive thinking is to control your choices. Since you do not have any control over your thoughts, you simply allow them to enter and exit your mind according to the circumstances. But you deliberately choose to focus on just the positive thoughts.
To make things clearer, let me illustrate an example. Suppose you took part in a competitive race and you came in the second place. You have two choices here- first is to take the trodden path and do like what the majority of the population would do, i.e. to despair about not winning the first place and sink into depression thinking you are a loser.
Or if you have decided to implement positive thinking you could very well take the second option. This involves knowing the fact that you are capable and have achieved success in the race. It also means having confidence in your abilities and skills and understanding that you are on the right track and you only need to work a little bit harder to win the first place.
Positive thinking does not mean fooling yourself to think of yourself as a winner even when you have apparently lost. Instead it means realizing your weaknesses and then focusing on them with a determination to convert them into your strengths and then coming out victorious.
Benefits of Positive Thinking
Deliberate choice of focusing on positive thoughts and developing a positive mindset has umpteen benefits.
Some of the most important health benefits are better resistance towards diseases, improved immune system, lowered risk of developing cardiac disorders, longer lifespan and ability to cope better in situations of stress.
Other benefits are better chances of maximizing your inborn potential and sharpening your God-gifted abilities. A positive person is an asset not only for himself, but also for his family, friends and the society at large.
How to Develop a Positive Mindset
Years of negative thinking can make it seem to be very tough at the start. But actually you simply have to change the way you look at things. Do not expect that you will never experience any challenges or problems once you develop a positive attitude. They are bound to come and are a part and parcel of life. Just don’t get bogged down by the challenges and accept defeat. Instead focus on what you can do to improve things and make the situation better. That is the actual gist of thinking positive.