Learn To Change Your Mind For The Better On Positive Thinking Day
Every September 13, people around the world celebrate Positive Thinking Day. Some may see this as nothing more than a misguided attempt to “put on a happy face.” However, psychological research suggests that there may be tangible benefits to adopting a positive attitude. This article will explore the growing field of positive psychology and what it can tell us about the power of changing how you look at the world.
The existing evidence indicates that thinking more positively can improve responses to stress, enhance performance, and even increase a person’s life span. Taking advantage of this mind-body connection may be good for both your physical and mental well-being. You can practice positive thinking with techniques like encouraging self-talk and reframing negative judgments. A licensed therapist can help you further cultivate positivity.
History of Positive Thinking Day
The origins of Positive Thinking Day are hard to pin down. Most sources agree that September 13 was first proposed as a day for emphasizing positivity in 2003. The idea may have been launched by an American entrepreneur, but their exact identity is unknown.
The concept of positive thinking is likely much older, though. It first gained popular attention with the 1952 publication of The Power of Positive Thinking by the Protestant minister Norman Vincent Peale. This was a book that claimed people could cultivate success and health through methods like mentally repeating optimistic phrases and visualizing favorable events. Many of these techniques have roots in the “New Thought” movement, an eclectic spiritual movement dating back to 19th-century America.
While many of Peale’s claims may have been exaggerated, subsequent research has produced evidence that a positive outlook may have a good influence on health, career outcomes, and overall life satisfaction. Learning to cultivate more optimistic thoughts may qualify as a form of mental and physical self-care.
What are the benefits of positive thinking?
Researchers have uncovered many possible ways that optimistic thinking can promote positive outcomes. Some of them may be mutually reinforcing. For instance, the beneficial effects of positive thinking on stress could contribute to its ability to improve physical health, which can, in turn, make it easier to think positively.
Here are a few ways that positive thoughts might be good for you.
Improved mental health
Other studies have found that similar techniques may help with conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Making an effort to think differently could be an important part of recovering from a mental illness.
Higher levels of career success
While you might assume that doing well at work would make people happy, some long-term studies suggest that the relationship might work the other way around. Investigators found that happy, positive people tend to achieve higher pay, better performance, and more favorable assessments from others — and their happier attitudes seem to appear before their success.
Improved resilience
One way optimism might support better mental health is by increasing your mental resilience in the face of stress. Studies suggest that having positive expectations for the future may reduce the impact of stressful life events on your sense of well-being, leading to less incidence of depression.
This can even be seen in the response to major disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2021 paper reported that people higher in optimism were usually less likely to experience stress, anxiety, and depression, even if they were highly afraid of the virus.
Stronger immunity
The links between optimistic thinking and wellness may extend into the realm of physical health. A growing body of research suggests that positive emotions seem to enhance the function of the human immune system, improving the body’s ability to fight off disease. Some researchers have even reported that people with an upbeat emotional style may be more resistant to the common cold.
Longer life span
Improved immune function may not be the only way that a positive mindset can benefit your health. A Harvard study analyzing roughly 70,000 women found that those with more optimism typically lived longer. In general, they had a substantially lower risk of death from a variety of causes, including the following:
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease
- Infections
- Strokes
Greater life satisfaction
Along with helping you live longer, cutting down on negative thinking might help you enjoy life more. A 2023 trial found that training older adults in positive thinking usually improved their self-reported life satisfaction, as well as their resilience in the face of stress.
The limitations of positive thinking
Despite the encouraging findings described above, developing more optimistic habits of thought isn’t necessarily a cure-all. Applying positive thinking inappropriately can backfire.
For example, an over-reliance on positivity may lead people to suppress negative emotions like grief and anger. The ability to acknowledge and accept these feelings when they’re appropriate can be important for your mental health. Trying to push them aside may lead to difficulties like anxiety and depression.
Counting too much on things like positive visualizations may also become a trap for some people. Researchers looking at the connection between optimism and depression found that people who spent too much time fantasizing about positive outcomes felt better in the short term, but worse in the long term. In college students, this relationship was partly related to poor academic performance, suggesting that imagining happy futures can get in the way of working toward them.
How to build positive thinking skills for Positive Thinking Day
You might not think of yourself as a very positive thinker, but that may be something you can change. There’s evidence that people can learn to deliberately cultivate healthy mental traits like optimism. Positive Thinking Day could be an excellent time to begin adapting the way you think.
Here are a few ways to get started.
Treat yourself like a friend
An overly critical inner monologue may be one of the most notable ways negative thinking can creep into your life. Practicing positive self-talk appears to lead to measurable improvements in anxiety symptoms and other measures of mental well-being.
When you notice that you’re judging yourself harshly, it can be helpful to shift to an attitude of self-compassion and encouragement, talking to yourself like you would a friend or loved one who’s having a hard time. Try telling yourself that you’re learning, growing, and improving rather than coming up with reasons to doubt yourself.
Say thank you
Along with optimism, gratitude is another positive attribute that’s commonly linked to better outcomes. Looking for reasons to be thankful may help you shift your thinking in a more positive direction. This could involve choices like keeping a gratitude journal and making a conscious effort to say thank you to the people you encounter in everyday life.
Meditate regularly
Mindfulness meditation has shown promise for helping people make deliberate changes in behavior and mindset. Practicing it regularly might make it easier to notice when you’re slipping into too much negativity, enabling you to replace those thoughts with more constructive ones. Practicing meditation can be as simple as sitting quietly for 15 to 20 minutes per day while paying attention to your breath, returning your thoughts there (without self-judgment) whenever your focus slips.
Reframe negative thoughts
As you pay more attention to what’s going on in your mind, you may start to notice that many of your negative habits of thinking are also irrational. Evidence from the discipline of cognitive-behavioral therapy suggests that these cognitive distortions can play a major role in sabotaging your happiness.
Common examples include things like:
- Making overly broad generalizations about yourself or the world
- Assuming negative outcomes before they happen
- Fixating on worst-case scenarios
- Thinking in all-or-nothing terms, such as viewing something as 100% bad if it’s not perfect
- Exaggerating negative things and minimizing positive ones
When you spot yourself falling into a cognitive distortion, deliberately replacing it with a more realistic and positive thought can help. For instance, if you have an immediate negative reaction to one of your creative ideas, try pretending that it came from a grumpy, pessimistic stranger and substitute an enthusiastic response in the voice of a friend.
Work with a therapist
Changing negative thinking can be easier with support and advice from a licensed mental health professional. Even if you don’t have a diagnosable mental illness, you may still be able to benefit from therapy to build more positive mental habits.
There’s an entire sub-field of psychology known as positive psychology that primarily focuses on how to help people thrive rather than on how to cure psychiatric conditions. Research has found that positive psychology interventions can have significant beneficial effects on well-being.
For those with busy schedules who may believe it’s too challenging to attend in-person therapy sessions, online therapy may offer a convenient alternative. It generally allows individuals to attend sessions from their homes at times that fit into their routines, even outside of typical office hours.
Research suggests that online therapy typically produces the same client outcomes as its in-person counterpart, showing that both options can be effective.
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