Staying Positive.

Do you notice your daily thought pattern?

Are they usually negative or positive?

The human brain has programmed itself to think of the worst aspects of any situation, this was initially intended for survival but unfortunately this can make us see pass the good aspects of life.

These are challenging times that we are currently living in. But it is extremely important to be able to be conscious of these affects and try to control your outlook on the situation. Staying positive is something that we are all trying to do just now, but without the tools and the know-how, it can be something that we struggle with.

We are all conditioned to automatically think negatively. Think of these as ANT’s, Automatic Negative Thoughts, these can appear at any time and when they do we have to react to them by squishing them ASAP. We have to address this first negative thought because if we don’t it just causes an army of ANT’s. When we think of something negative and we have realised this, instantly try to think of the solution to the negative thought and once you have move on from it, effectively squishing the ANT and preventing an army.

We assume the best things from life comes from joyful and happy experiences but what we do not realise Is that we actually get the best gifts from life when we are being pushed and challenged. These cause us to have transformations and drive us forward.

We have to keep this in mind and practice to accept life just as it is.

Having a healthy life style (mentally and physically) is vital for keeping positive. This is because when we accomplish things, meditate, do exercise or eat healthy we release “happy” hormones: endorphins, dopamine and serotonin.

Think about how you speak and the language you use. For example “its annoying we are stuck in our homes with weather like this” compared to “it’s such a nice day to sit in the garden”. We must train ourselves to use positive language and recognise when we have used a negative sentence and correct ourselves, this will eventually become unconscious to us and we will have a healthier and more positive mind frame.

When we notice ourselves feeling negative, demotivated or anxious we need to know how to alter our perception and change our attitude. Different things work for different people and it’s about trial and error to seeing what works best for you. Here is 5 examples:

· A good task to do in relation to this is to write down some of the changes or situations that you’ve had a hard time accepting recently- the coronavirus for example. And then write down any positives that can come out of this situation.

· Another good daily practice is to look up some guided mediation to help with changes, anxiety and positivity.

· Write down a list of about 15 things that make you feel good (not including drugs , alcohol or cigarettes) and complete some of the things on this list when you feel you are having a particularly negative day. My list contains tasks such as writing, hugging my mum or meditating.

· When you notice yourself having negative thoughts write exactly how you feel down in a journal or even on your phone notes. Don’t just write them out but examine them, is it a fact or just overthinking? What emotion does it lead to? Why do I feel like this? What is the solution?

· Write down your plan for the next day or the rest of the week. This will allow you to stay focused and active. It also allows you to tick the things off and when we do this it can make us feel as if we have accomplished something and release the happy hormones. So write down even the tiniest tasks.

With practice your mind can be trained and reconstructed to not think so negatively and pull out the positives in any situations. It will become less effort for us to do and eventually become an unconscious characteristic.

Most importantly, its ok to not feel ok, we are all just trying our best.