For someone who is a naturally positive thinker, they wouldn’t think twice about ‘how they think’ because they don’t need to. They are happy, they are doing everything right, there’s no need for change so no need to think about it.

However, for someone who is habitually a negative thinker, it can be very hard to change to the positive thinking attitude. Even when you try your hardest, you may succeed for a while but often that negative thinking gradually works itself back into your mind, it is very, very easy to fall back into the negative pattern.

There are many aspects of daily life that cause you to start thinking negatively in the first place. Things like finances and whether you will have enough money for your future. It can bring you down if you can’t afford the nice luxury items that your friends may all have, if you don’t have nice clothes and a nice big house, these things you are reminded of every day so it is hard to think positively about them.

Some people get very stressed about something they may have done and later feel bad about it. A positive thinker would probably just brush it off and forget about it, but a negative thinker is likely to dwell on it for quite a while.

Unable to break habits like smoking, drinking, eating, all of these are hard habits for anyone to break, but for the negative person, the longer you continue with the habit and not being able to break it, the more negative you feel about yourself.

The type of diet a person has can ultimately cause depression. The foods you eat has such a major effect on your health. Eating the wrong types of food over a long period can lead to diseases like heart disease, obesity and diabetes, these conditions can be a major cause of depression and stress.

People are faced with difficult situations throughout their lives and some people deal with them better than others. The way we deal with these situations may cause depression. Stress is something that everyone deals with from time to time and for the negative person, stress can really effect your mind and body. The longer you go through life not being able to deal with stress the more effect it will have on your body and depression is quite likely to develop.

Everyone should learn coping techniques and ways to deal with stress. Stress can sometimes be avoided but unfortunately it cannot always be avoided, we will all encounter stressful situations and so it is vital that we learn to cope with them. We need to be able to deal with it, then forget about it. We need to learn to ‘let go’.

If you do suffer from depression it can help to sit down and reflect on your day or week and pick out moments that could be contributing to the way you feel, and see if there is a way that you could deal with it differently.

For the negative thinking person, it helps to keep a notebook or diary and on a daily basis write down all the positive things that happened throughout that day. By writing it down it helps to focus on the positive and not on the negative.

The triggering of the fight or flight response can put enormous strain and stress on our bodies as our bodies are ready for action, but we don’t usually fulfil that action, we sit and seethe. Therefore we have produced chemicals that our body then doesn’t use, our other functions are put on hold when we really still need them to be working.

This can open us up to diseases since the immune system is on hold when it shouldn’t be, digestive troubles, slower recovery from illnesses, we can also end up with muscle aches, fatigue and a general awful feeling.

The muscles usually remain tense for a long while following the fight or flight response, especially around the shoulders and neck, stomach, chest and lower back which can lead to chronic tension in one or more of these areas. This in turn makes us feel nervous and uptight.

Then the mind starts to generate thoughts to find a reason why we are feeling nervous, usually not taking into account the fight or flight responses we have been reacting to but instead wondering and worrying that there is something wrong to make us feel like this. Of course, then this negative thinking can trigger another fight or flight response from our bodies and the whole things starts over again. This can continue in a downward spiral and can continue for a long, long time if we don’t get on top of it. When you have been going through this spiral for a long time that is when it develops into depression. Some people get stressed just at the thought that they might have depression and then they get depressed about being depressed which then triggers a whole new cycle of the fight or flight response.

Negative thinking is like a disease or an addiction. It is addictive to the body, the mind and the emotions. The body is addicted to the rush of chemicals caused in the fight or flight response, its like a rush of adrenalin.

The mind becomes addicted to being right. So to always predict failure you will always be right.

The emotions become addicted to the intensity of it all. Although the feelings are not happy feelings, at least they are not feelings of boredom. Once they reach a certain level of stimulation they start demanding more and more intensity.

You need to treat negative thinking as you would treat any other addiction. You need to have patience, discipline, commitment to life, forgiveness, a will to get better and believe that recovery is very, very possible.

In the morning

• drink water
• gentle exercise – yoga or stretching
• healthy breakfast
• plan your day

Creating the right environment

• try to be in natural light every day
• have soft lighting, harsh light can cause headaches
• if sitting at a desk keep a good posture
• take regular breaks to stretch and walk

Work

• don’t work overtime constantly, don’t overdo it
• don’t pressure yourself, be realistic when you plan your day – don’t overdo it
• create a pleasant workforce, constant criticism and rudeness will cause stress in the workplace. Kind words and praise will create a pleasant workplace.

Alone Time

• make time for yourself doing something you enjoy
• reading, walking, yoga or a long bath

Time for family

• make time to spend with your family
• quality family times are the most rewarding times, take time out regularly to give your undecided attention to your family. If you don’t have time – replan your diary and make time, you will feel so much better for it in the long run
• nothing is more important than family

Time management

• be realistic when you plan your day, don’t try and fit more into your day than you can realistically achieve
• arrange your priorities
• time management is not just for the office but also for home. Organise your time for housework and cooking. Once you are organised well, you will get more done in less time
• don’t skip your lunch break and when possible have lunch outside

Eating

• always try to have your meals with your family
• don’t eat on the run, sit down and enjoy your meal
• eat healthy nutritious meals
• chew slowly, don’t rush meals

Exercise

• as mentioned earlier, exercise is very important in helping to reduce stress
• try to exercise three times a week
• stretch daily to keep your body flexible

Breathing

• our bodies need plenty of oxygen, a lot of people under stress tend to breath shallow breaths not allowing enought oxygen to enter their body
• practise deep breathing daily

Treat yourself

• treat yourself every now and then whether it be a massage or a day at the salon
• think highly of yourself, treat yourself becasue you deserve it

Sleep

• make sure you get enough sleep
• at least eight hours of sleep a night are extremely beneficial to help with your daily performance
• relax before bedtime and wind down

Positive thinking

• try to have positive thoughts throughout the day
• smile – laugh and the world laughs with you!
• if there is a situation where you are worried or feel down try and talk to someone about it – a problem shared is a problem halved – it can make you feel a lot better when you talk to someone
• love and appreciate your family and friends. When you show love and kindness to others they show it back in abundance.
• negative thinking can be contagious, if you are down others around you can become down also. Fortunately it is the same in reverse, being happy and positive can rub off on those around you.
• every good thought you think is contributing its share to the ultimate result of your life

 You’ll really be amazed at how much less stress you will have in your life and I’m sure you will feel less depressed.

A simple thought – yet it has a huge impact on our mind, body and our emotions.

Our bodies respond to our thoughts, as do our emotions. Think of something you love – how do you feel? Now think of something you hate – how do you feel? Think of something you love again – how do you feel now? The way our whole body feels changes with what we are thinking.  The power of positive thinking is just amazing.

So is it any surprise that people who think negative thoughts constantly always feel down and are always depressed. People who think positive thoughts are always happy and have lots of energy.

Positive thoughts such as joy, happiness, fulfillment, worthiness, achievement have positive results such as enthusiasm, calm, well-being, energy, ease, love. While negative thoughts such as judgement, unworthiness, mistrust, resentment, fear have negative results such as tension, anxiety, alienation, anger and fatigue.

I don’t do anything that’s bad for me. I don’t like to be made nervous or angry. Any time you get upset it tears down your nervous system. Mae West

Negatives thoughts affect our body due to the fight or flight response. When we are faced with a negative situation our bodies get prepared for either fight or flight. In most occasions we don’t use either of these and so our bodies have prepared themselves for nothing. This can be bad for our bodies as during this response some other bodily functions are put on hold, such as digestion, blood cell production, body maintenance and some circulation, healing and immunological responses.

These functions being put on hold can open us up to disease. Also during the fight or flight response our bodies produce natural chemicals – adrenalin – which when not used can break down into toxins. Our bodies can be put under enourmous stress during these responses to negative thoughts.

This is why exercise is so important. When you are exercises you are releasing some of that stored up energy and toxins. Your body is being released from the fight or flight response that it has built up. Regular exercise is especially important in people who are habitual negative thinkers. More than likely regular exercise will also help to stop thinking so negatively.

Positive Thinking

How we feel about life depends on what we focus on. If we focus on the positive their our feelings about life everyday will become positive.

Take a look around you, look at all the negative things around you, is there mess, a hole in the chair, dirty windows, dishes to be done, find all the things around you that are negative and depressing. Are these the things you tend to focus on daily?

Now take a look around you, look at all the positive things, are you sitting on a soft chair – much better than sitting on a concrete floor don’t you think, do you have a house to live in, chairs to sit on, table to eat at, look at those dishes, aren’t you glad you have them? Do you have a TV, radio, cd, dvd? Nice paintings or photos on the wall.

Now which made you feel better? When you were focusing on the negative things around you or when you were focusing on the positive? This can go further than physical objects around you, think about your body, negative things, do you have a headache, a sore leg, sore throat, all these things you tend to focus on if they happen. What about the positive things, how often do you focus on the positives with your body, are you healthy, that sore leg you have – be thankful the other one isn’t sore also – or even more be thankful you have legs. So many people go through such traumatic injuries or dreadful diseases, if you are healthy be thankful for it, everyday be thankful for your health and your body.

What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.
Colette

Be Willing To Change

If you are a habitual negative thinker it is not easy to change immediately and start thinking positively, you can try real hard and probably succeed for a little while but it is so easy to convert back to the negative thinking. To really change you may need to change your lifestyle.

You may need to change your job. Does your job get you down? Are you happy with your job or does it make you miserable? I’m not saying just quit right now, this may not be possible for some, you need to have that money coming in, but while you have that job don’t just settle with it, spend some time each day looking around for something better, or study part time to work towards a higher goal. What is your passion? So many people have boring jobs just to earn the money – which we all need to do. There are some people lucky enough to earn a living doing what they love, this is what we all need to work towards. Can you make a living doing what you love to do? It may not come easy but it may just be achievable.

Are you stuck in a rut? Have you grown accustomed to your life and your intolerable situations? Change may not be comfortable and it may not be easy. You need to have courage, courage to take a long hard honest look at your life and find out what’s not working, and change it.

You are only in this life for a short time, don’t spend it being miserable. Life is about YOU – it is your life, do what makes YOU happy. Don’t spend your life making everyone else happy if its going to make your life miserable.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

Take a good, honest look at everything in your life. Decide which things, situations and people you tend to think most negatively about. Get rid of them. Yes that’s right, the one that just came to your head first when you thought about it, when you thought “if only I could get rid of ………, but I don’t dare”. Do it – Dare. Throw it out, get rid of them, walk away – CHANGE.

Positive thoughts have positive results. Set your goals, get rid of the things that make you negative. Keep a diary or a ‘good thoughts’ book, at the end of every day take five minutes to sit and write in your good thoughts book. Think back on your day and write down all the positives about your day. Keep this up on a daily basis, I have found this to be very helpful in trying to stay positive by writing things down.

Write a list of things you enjoy doing. If you like riding, walking, photography, whatever it is you love to do write it down. Each day try to do something from your list, something that will make you happy.

Trust me, by keeping these in writing and doing it daily will keep you on track, help you not to fall back to the negative.  Stick to the positive thinking and you really can turn your life around.

GOOD LUCK!