Life, as it is, is not always a smooth ride. Life has its own challenges that everyone has to face at one point or another. Staying positive and calm during these situations helps you focus on the good aspects of life and gives you hope and energy to overcome the immediate challenges that you are facing. Whereas, negative thinking constantly limits your consciousness to the immediate problem, and you cannot extend your vision beyond it. According to Norman Vincent Peale, in his book The Power of Positive Thinking, our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. I am a true believer of that idea since I have seen it happening in my life. Cultivating my mind with positive thoughts, I have found that my emotions tend to be positive, and are then expressed as positive action. Whereas, sometimes when I get bogged down by negative thoughts, my emotions reflect that as well, and I feel as if my energy has drained.
Having a positive attitude towards life and cultivating your mind with positive thoughts has several benefits including, but not limited to, lowering levels of distress and depression, improving psychological well-being, and empowering with a vision to cope with difficult situations. Although we know that having a positive mindset can have tremendous positive impact on several aspects of our life including work, relationships, and finances, it is hard to stay positive and focused amidst some difficult circumstances.
Positive mindset can be cultivated with routine practice which, in turn, becomes a habit. Sometimes we cannot stay positive because we think we are not enough. The best way to overcome that is by empowering ourselves, by constantly learning, and investing in personal development. When we start to feel good about ourselves, only then can we can start to have a positive outlook on everything in which we are involved.
The company of people that we are surrounded with also has a lot of influence on how we think and behave. Surrounding ourselves with people who think positively helps in our own practice of cultivating a positive mindset. The hardest part of cultivating a habit of positive mindset is when we are faced with challenges. To overcome that we must dwell on the good things in our lives and express our gratitude for them. It helps to focus our mind from the hardships we are facing to the little things that we can be grateful for today. To make this into a habit, we can keep a gratitude journal, and everyday express five things for which we are grateful.
Positive thinking can help us in our personal growth and make a positive impact on every aspect of our life. Positive mindset can be cultivated and turned into a habit by following simple practices. So next time when you are faced with a difficult situation, use your positive thinking skills, and see how it helps you overcome that situation.