by: Maha Jawass
When we hear someone telling us to be positive, we get really annoyed and huff and maybe even roll our eyes and say “Gee, thanks, don’t know why I haven’t tried that before.” But the biggest misconception of thinking positively, whether it’s towards different situations or towards yourself, is that you have to believe what you’re saying right off the bat. The thing is, you don’t. The way positive thinking, affirmations, manifestations, and all that good stuff is supposed to work is that you constantly say them to yourself, regardless if you believe them or not, until it becomes so ingrained into you that you actually begin to believe it. Yes, you’re supposed to trick yourself. Isn’t that awesome? Yeah, it can be annoying at first, but the benefits far outweigh the pains of doing it. Here are 3 reasons why you should give it a try.
1. Reducing Anxiety & Stress
Creating a positive space for yourself doesn’t mean you need to be happy all the time. It doesn’t mean that when something goes wrong you have to smile through it. It means that you have the ability to take a step back and address the issue and offer yourself a solution. It helps you reduce the anxiety that might come when something goes wrong. It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed, especially during the school year, when something goes wrong, when you have a bad day, or even when you wake up later than you planned to. Practicing a positive mindset helps you relieve some of that stress, so you can take care of your mental health without it having to ruin the rest of your day.
2. Better Performance at School/Work
Being able to create a positive mindset will help you jump back from major and minor setbacks. Being able to do this will help you get far in life, because you’ll be able to not let a setback set you back. Creating positive solutions for negative situations is a major asset in not only school, but also the workforce. For example, if you receive a bad grade on an essay it’s really easy for most of us to jump to thoughts such as, “I suck,” and “That wasn’t marked fairly.” These display emotions of failure, hopelessness and anger. How is anyone going to get anywhere with that train of thought? Tricking yourself to more positive thinking means switching those to, “This wasn’t my best work, but I’ll take these errors to make my next essay even better.” This displays motivation, and determination, which pushes you to do and be your best, and this is where success comes from. Remember that failure is good, if you respond to it correctly.
3. Open to More Opportunities
When you adopt a positive mindset, it means you realize your potential and you stop underestimating yourself. One thing I’ve realized that has happened once I’ve allowed myself create a positive mindset and send positive vibrations out into the universe is that I’ve been recognizing and receiving an abundance of opportunities, and once I have, I stopped subconsciously turning them away. By developing a positive attitude, you allow your subconscious insecurities to move out of the way. Recognizing that everything you’ve ever wanted to have and everything you’ve ever wanted to do is right here, right now, and completely attainable in this huge yet tiny sphere called earth is a step towards jumping at the opportunities that’ll seem to just throw themselves at you. It all starts with gearing you mind to think a certain way.
You need to recognize that your thoughts are the most powerful tool you have, you are what you think you are. You’re thoughts create a projection of what your real life experiences will look like. So think awesomely and live awesomely.