Positivity

Positivity: A Powerful Tool

They say optimists live longer than pessimists and that they have a higher quality of life. This goes beyond the “glass half full” way of thinking. Maintaining a genuine positive mental attitude in many aspects of life will go a long way to improving your physical, emotional, and mental well-being. A recent article on a prominent athletics website describes a study that connects an athlete’s ability to recover from nagging injuries is changed by the athlete’s attitude about the injury. “Oh my knee is never going to get better…” VS “My knee needs a bit of time off and some gentile exercises, that’s all…” Now, which of those sounds like someone determined to grow as an athlete in a healthy, positive way? Who do you think will see healing and return to training faster? Proactive, positive thinking is a major step to take in training. Apply it everywhere as challenging as it can be in moments of discouragement or even despair, you have to keep your chin up to move beyond setbacks.

If you’re a person that finds themselves thinking negatively fairly often or most of the time, the transition to reframing negative thoughts to positive ones can take some time. Breaking old habits takes practice and consistency. Negative thoughts are easy to think. Certainly easier than thinking positively and that leads to a spiral. Negative leads to negative ad infinitum and before you know it, you’ve given up. Break the cycle and stop the spiral by starting small and working towards appreciating the smallest of things. “My coffee tasted good this morning…” “The outside air smells nice today…” Practice smiling, wave to someone you see walking. Does all this sound corny? Yeah, maybe a little but the corny stuff can change your life if you let it. The human spirit is strong, stronger still with happiness and kindness in the heart.