Reasons To Stay Positive
You surely have heard about "positive thinking", but why bother?
Is there any reason you should make the effort to retain only
positive thoughts? This article shares some ideas why you may in
fact want to make this effort.
Higher Productivity
Maintaining a positive attitude may lead to higher productivity,
whether in your career or personal life. When you are negative,
you tend to give up more easily, get frustrated, get easily
distracted, and drag your feet. A simple thing such as how you
think can make a world of difference. W. Clement Stone spoke of
this when he said "There is little difference in people, but
that little difference makes a big difference. The little
difference is attitude.The big difference is whether it is
positive or negative.". Whether you want higher productivity is
up to you, however consider the cause and effect of your
attitude. Zig Ziglar also spoke of this when he said "Positive
thinking will let you do everything better than negative
thinking will.".
Better Relationships
Who wants to be around a negative person? Do you? When you are
negative, you are sending out signals to others to stay away
from you, unless perhaps they are also negative and seek a
similar mindset. Do you want to attract negative people, or
positive people? Ken Keyes Jr. touched on the reality of this
when he said "A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile
person lives in a hostile world; everyone you meet is your
mirror." Your attitude affects both personal relationships, and
career relationships. While the impact of your attitude in a
personal relationship is perhaps more obvious, in the workplace
it's often less obvious. It's the relationships, trust, and
rapport you build with others which contribute greatly to
advancement opportunities, and should not be overlooked.
Better Health
Both modern medical providers and ancient practitioners have
said that your attitude can affect your health. Your body takes
queues from your mind, and negative thoughts can be disruptive
to your internal body processes. Handling stress is a key
challenge for us, to avoid stress-induced illnesses. The reverse
is also true that having good health will contribute towards a
positive attitude, so take care of your body! A holistic
approach is to focus on your mind and body together, ensuring
you are eating well and getting exercise.
Happiness
Happiness is perhaps one of the most important things of all,
what good are the other things above if you aren't happy?
Financial success doesn't necessarily equate to happiness, many
wealthy people are quite unhappy. Happiness is really a state of
mind, and we have complete control of our own minds.
Unfortunately, many leave their thoughts and emotions on
"autopilot", never deciding for themselves how they want to
think. Maintaining a positive attitude equates to a decision to
be happy, it's your choice! Buddha summarized how to remain
happy no matter how bad things may seem when he said "Let us
rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at
least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at
least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't
die; so, let us all be thankful.". It's also important to not
miss the things that truly make us happy, which is not typically
money, but often little things we take for granted. As Robert
Brault said, "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look
back and realize they were the big things.".
Spiritual Growth
If you believe in a creator, or practice a religious belief,
then you may also believe that remaining positive is part of a
spiritual growth path. Many religions teach this basic premise,
that we should remain positive and trust in our creator no
matter how bad things may seem. Even if you don't have spiritual
beliefs, perhaps you feel something within your conscience that
urges you to be positive, and thus have a positive impact on
others in your life. Being positive makes others feel good,
which is rewarding in itself.
You Are Your Thoughts
What are you but your thoughts? Mahatma Gandhi said "A man is
but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes."
What do you want to be? Your thoughts have more impact than you
realize, and define who you are, how others react to you, what
comes into your life, and how you will be remembered when you
are no longer here. What type of person do you want to be? Make
sure your thoughts and attitudes support your definition of
yourself!
How to Do It
How to maintain a positive attitude is a subject for a different
article as there are many methods to achieve it. However,
deciding you WANT to do this is a key first step, and can lead
you towards pursuing methods which work for you. A good second
step is to begin to simply recognize when you are not feeling
positive, and pause to reflect on whether you want to CHOOSE to
feel that way or not. Getting your mind out of autopilot puts
you back into control, which is fundamental to changing your
attitude.