The power of positive thinking is one of the major habits of successful people. When you practice positive thinking, you become better at setting the right goals and better at achieving them. The benefits don't stop there – positivity boosts your mental and physical health, changing the way you interact with others.
However, even if you know all this, it can be tricky to change entrenched patterns of negative thinking. Becoming a positive person can seem challenging – perhaps you've wondered if you're just immune to the power of positive thinking.
The good news is, you have a choice. You can embrace the power of positive thinking as it's available for everyone to learn. As long as you have the right attitude and the right tools.
Here are 7 mindful habits that are proven to create positive thoughts that provide you concrete techniques to practice. Including how to develop new habits that last, so you begin to see a difference in your everyday life.
Before we go any further, it's important to note that this guide is a positive vibes only zone. We won't be dwelling on the difficulties of your past, on the things that have held you back, or on the words of that inner critical voice that brings you down.
Instead, we'll be looking at the issue of the power of positive thinking in a productive, constructive and proactive way.
Perhaps you're reading this disclaimer and feeling skeptical. However, if you follow this lead, you'll soon start to see that maintaining positive vibes really isn't as difficult as it might sound. With some effort, determination and practice, you can create the sorts of mindful attitudes that all but eliminate negativity from your life.
If you feel you're not the most positive of people, this can change. Once you tap into your power of positivity thinking, you'll be surprised by just how many other things start to change in and around you.
As the Law of Attraction tells us like attracts like. This means that the more positive you are, the more you pull positive people, opportunities, and choices into your orbit. You begin to vibrate on a frequency of abundance. The abundance in your life only makes you feel more positive. Conceptualized in this way, there's no limit to how happy you can be, or how much goodness you can attract.
So, to emphasize again, it's positive vibes only from here on in. Now, let's move on to explore some concrete facts about the ways in which consistent, sustained positivity can enhance your life in tangible ways.
Positive mindset quotes and quotes about positive thinking and can help you get a better sense of what it’s like, inspiring you to change. Here are some of the best – you may want to come back to these when we discuss making affirmations below.
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it.
~ Mary EnglebreitThe positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
~ Winston ChurchillIf you wouldn't say it to a friend, don't say it to yourself.
~ Jane Travis
Now that you've built a deeper understanding of why and how thinking positive can completely transform your life, it's time to delve into how you can become a more positive person.
Yes, most of us can talk ourselves into a positive thought or feeling, but it is far-reaching, sustained change that really makes the difference. This means it's important to focus on how to stay positive in all areas of your life.
There are at least seven habits that are proven to help you tap into your power of positive thinking, and we'll explain how you can develop these habits for yourself, starting today. Throughout, we'll offer techniques and suggestions that will help you see the many different ways that you might begin to behave differently.
Each of the seven habits that we'll discuss can be realized through a range of approaches, and it's important to find ones that fit with your unique goals, values, and personality.
While we can influence others to change they can also influence us. The phrase “the people you surround yourself with, you become” nicely captures just how important our social circle can be. So, to become more positive (and stay that way), focus on building connections with people who are good at sending positive vibes.
If you ever ask yourself “How can I surround myself with successful people?”, know that the first step is to nurture your existing relationships with people who are good at achieving their goals. They may have different passions and work in different fields, but if they are positive and successful then you can become more like them just by being around them.
Once again, like attracts like. The more time you spend with successful people, the more you'll find yourself meeting new people who inspire and motivate you to succeed. This will enhance your power of positive thinking 10x!
In addition, try to think about success in a really broad way. While you can certainly benefit from surrounding yourself with people who have fulfilling jobs and great salaries, it's easier to stay positive if you look beyond the workplace. For example, you should also surround yourself with people who have thriving love lives and who devote time to personal growth.
One of the easiest ways to work out who you want to surround yourself with – and therefore who you want to become – is to do an exercise where you think about your ideal role model. What traits do they have? What are they good at, and how do they act? This gives you a concrete sense of the types of people you should aim to spend more time with if you want to develop and sustain a positive mindset.
The words you choose also play a dramatic role in being positive. Your language affects your view of yourself, your capabilities and your expectations. Success habits require you to be realistic and yet confident, pushing you to be the best you can be. Consequently, people who attract success learn how to refine their language, stripping it of negativity. But what are the most effective ways to tap into the power of words?
Firstly, make a habit of paying more attention to your word choice. For example, you might set a particular time span (e.g. a couple of hours or a day) and then make some notes about which words made you feel empowered and positive.
In contrast, When you notice ways of speaking that don't help you build on positivity, think about how can change things up. Look to replace words like “can't,” “never” and “shouldn't” with aspirational words that describe the life you want to create.
Secondly, designing and reciting affirmations is a powerful way to use words in service of positivity. Affirmations are just statements that you say to yourself in order to support your goals. You can use ones that directly discuss positivity, like the following:
You can also use affirmations that implicitly reinforce your power of positive thinking towards specific goals in your life. For example:
There are dozens of ways for writing affirmations. What matters is that they make you feel good and that they capture what you want to achieve.
The next major contributor to maintaining a positive mindset revolves around the idea of contribution. The Law of Attraction is magnetic, and so what you put out is what you get back.
If you look at how you can make the world a happier place, the universe will ensure that your generosity and compassion make their way back to you as well.
Plus, combined with the power of positive thinking, studies on the power of kindness show that when we're kind, we end up feeling happier and our stress levels lower. This has a direct and immediate impact on our ability to think positively.
To access the power of contribution, start by asking yourself how you're currently contributing to the world. Try to think of at least 5 things you're doing for others, and consider which are more effective.
Next, try to generate at least 5 further ideas for ways in which you might give more to others.
There are dozens of things you can do to contribute. Some of which are personal and others which promote happiness in strangers. To contribute to people already in your life, think about chores you might be able to do in times of hardship. You can even take care to really listen to people's problems without judging or trying to offer quick fixes.
Never underestimate how much it can mean just to check in with someone or help them out with something.
When it comes to contributing to the lives of strangers, volunteer work is an obvious and effective way to generate positivity by giving back to the world.
This might involve working in a shelter for a few hours a week or joining a helpline. When time constraints make this difficult, giving to charity also boosts the amount of positivity in your life and in the wider world.
Many of us grow out of reading once we get out of the habit of studying, but if you want to create a positive mindset then reading can really help.
As well as boosting mind power by improving your vocabulary and building your knowledge, reading can create psychological growth in a number of ways.
For one thing, there are fascinating studies that show how reading can help us become more compassionate and empathetic.
When we read, we often have to switch our perspectives, and the better we get at doing this the more we are to relate to others – even those who are dramatically different from us.
There are even brain scans suggesting that when we read fiction in which characters go through certain experiences. Studies reveal that our brain's display activity is similar to actual experiences in real life.
Does this affect our power of positive thinking? There are a couple of different connections between enhanced empathy and keeping a positive mindset.
Firstly, if we're more empathetic then we're better at building good relationships that involve reciprocal support.
Secondly, empathy helps us develop a generally sympathetic worldview. Rather than seeing people as good or bad, we see them as products of their environments and experience.
Setting empathy aside, another reason why reading holds immense power is that it exposes you to new ideas.
Reading prompts you to challenge things you may otherwise have taken for granted. This helps you to reexamine and replace old beliefs that are no longer serving you and inspires you to make changes.
Finally, reading other people's success stories both shows you how to be successful and reminds you that anything is possible. Try reading a short success story each week for a month, and notice any changes in your mindset.
When you're developing habits that encourage you to focus on the positive, it's vital to remember that you have total control over whether you succeed.
For example, some people occupy a “victim mindset”, telling themselves that they merely respond to circumstances and don't have any choice in what happens to them.
In contrast, if you choose a “creator mindset”, you view yourself as the architect of your own life. You get to choose what it looks like, and what you attract into it.
Successful people sometimes talk about a “growth mindset”, which means adopting the view that you want to evolve and improve. This requires moving away from your comfort zone.
Moving to a place that feels good in the short-term but stifles you in the longer term. Growth can be scary and exciting, as well as give you a sense of becoming who you're meant to be.
When you combine the creator mindset together with the growth mindset, you get an approach to life that fosters consistent positivity.
We all encounter negative or challenging situations, but we can choose to take an optimistic viewpoint. We can choose to look for useful lessons, and for opportunities for development.
At first, this may require conscious effort. For example, you might try generating a mind map with the problem in the center and positive ideas surrounding it. If you do this often enough, it will become second nature to read challenges in a positive way, and you'll do it much more quickly.
As a bonus, when you tap into the power of choice and pick optimism over pessimism, you will soon notice that your stress levels massively decrease. There are even studies suggesting that those who take this approach heal more quickly and have better overall health.
Gratitude is a powerful emotion, and any habits that cultivate it also help to create a positive mind.
When you think of gratitude, you might immediately focus on the biggest achievements and positive experiences in your life – for example, promotions, qualifications, weddings, and births.
Often, we take much of our lives for granted, overlooking the fact that there are so many more reasons for gratitude. However, if we harness the power of experience with the power of positive thinking, we begin to see the incredible things that happen every day.
A gratitude journal is one of the most effective ways to make the most of the power of experience.
Get yourself a notebook or create a document. Enter sources of positivity on a daily basis and reflect on feeling grateful for these things.
The aim is to focus on the positive every day. Rather than just focus on the big things, you'll see that most of your days are ultimately very positive.
For example, you might include something beautiful that you saw, a moment of kindness that you experienced, something that made you laugh, or some precious time you took to relax.
When working with a positive mindset, it's also crucial that you make room to be grateful for yourself.
So, when you write in your gratitude journal, challenge yourself to include at least one entry that's just about you.
This might be something big that you have done, felt, or contributed. On other days, you might just be grateful for your health, or for a feature or skill that helps you feel confident.
The key idea here is just to develop another habit that encourages self-directed positivity.
Your power of positive thinking will uplevel when you make this a daily habit.
Want to explore this further? Here are 10 gratitude exercises.
Finally, tuning in to your higher consciousness can make a massive difference in your ability to create positive thoughts.
What this means is just getting to know yourself on a deeper level. You can practice techniques that tap into your subconscious mind as well as your conscious mind.
Some of the best positive thinking exercises focus on meditation and mindfulness, and you may already know how to do some of these. Even basic breathing exercises can induce calmness and receptivity.
For example, you might set aside ten minutes and try to focus on taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. This helps to settle the mind and get rid of extraneous thoughts that are clouding your thinking. It is natural to get distracted during an exercise like this, but try to let any random thoughts drift away rather than giving them much attention.
When you get used to meditation, you can try further techniques. One that you can try involves imagining yourself gradually filling with a golden light.
Feel it start at your toes and work to the top of your head, warming you as it goes. Some people see it as a molten liquid, and others as simply a golden glow. When you open your eyes, you should feel optimistic, energized, and positive.
On days when positive thinking is harder, you can also try a reverse technique to banish negativity, picturing it leaving your body in the form of a dark cloud. This technique is best followed by the one above, which will help you to replace any negativity with positivity.
With all of this now planted in your mind, you now have the ability to tap into the power of positive thinking to drastically enhance your life. If you know someone who would experience life-changing benefits should they embrace the power of positive thinking, please share this article.
