Staying Positive

Thinking Positively

How you face life each day largely determines how you feel about your day. If you have a positive approach to life and to yourself, even your toughest days will feel tolerable. Thinking positively is the key to living a satisfying, fulfilled life.

Mitchell Moore’s Famous Quote About Positivity

Mitchell Moore is believed to have once said, “Attitude is everything.” In other words, how you approach your day or a situation determines how that day or situation will go. Thinking positively is a fairly simple personal rule to remember. However, putting it into practice in your daily life can be more challenging

Peter McWilliams’ Thoughts on Positivity

“The road to positivity is strewn with the abandoned vehicles of the faint-hearted.” Peter McWilliams made this astute observation about the challenges of thinking positive. To translate this idea into everyday English: To be positive, you must persevere.

Norman Vincent Peale and The Power of Positive Thinking

Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking, formulated several fascinating thoughts about approaching life in a positive way. He said, ‘”We tend to get what we expect.’” One interpretation of this saying is that whatever we expect or believe will occur will indeed come to pass. So, if you believe that you’ll do well on a work project, you will. If you expect not to do well, then you likely won’t.

Dr. Peale also said, “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” The beauty of this statement is that it gives incredible hope. The implication is that if you can take hold of your thoughts, you can think your way into success. Positivity rules again.

Positivity: Illustration and Discussion

Consistently thinking positively can be challenging. Maybe your self-confidence isn’t as strong as it could be. If this is the case, you may need to take a leap of faith to think positively. Perhaps you ponder, “But what if I make a fool of myself?” or, “Maybe my co-worker is smarter than I am.”

Consider this illustration:

You’re up for a promotion at work. How will you think about the situation? What do you believe about yourself as it relates to the possibility of receiving the promotion? Here are three ways to approach this matter:

1. Assume you won’t be selected for the job. After all, you didn’t get straight A’s in school. And that new Vice President hardly ever speaks to you. You think you won’t be chosen.

2. Decide you don’t care either way. Whether you get the promotion or not isn’t important. It doesn’t matter. This way of thinking demonstrates the easy way out. You don’t have to put any emotional energy into something when you don’t care.

3. Dare to think you’ll be selected to receive the promotion. You believe you’re smart enough to be chosen. And you know that you work hard, so others probably see that you’re a good candidate. You’ve decided to think positive!

How can you come out of this situation feeling fine, no matter what happens?

Let’s consider each approach to the possible promotion.

Most likely, if you respond like #1 and don’t receive the promotion, you won’t feel very positive. After all, not getting the promotion will now serve as confirmation of what you believe about yourself, that you won’t be successful. However, even if you do get the promotion, you may believe you don’t deserve it. Because of a negative approach, you may feel unhappy even if you get what you want.

If you react as in #2, then you don’t care either way. You’ve convinced yourself that nothing is important enough to invest in it. Your life goes on the same. When you don’t care about something, the end result is irrelevant. However, if the end result truly doesn’t matter, you may not particularly enjoy getting the promotion if you actually do. You’ve deprived yourself of joy by completely detaching from the situation.

But if you react like #3, you go into the situation feeling hopeful, excited, and energized. If you’re chosen, you’ll be reinforced for your positive thinking and re-energized for the work ahead of you.

Even if you aren’t selected, you’ll only experience brief disappointment. After a short letdown, you’ll remind yourself that with your intelligence and perseverance, something good will soon come along. You simply can’t lose by approaching life’s events with positive thinking.

Thinking positively is worth your time. When you aren’t sure about how to think about a situation, remember Norman Vincent Peale’s quotes on approaching life in a positive way. Consider Peter McWilliams’s point and Mitchell Moore’s famous quote. Attitude truly is everything; with enough positivity, you can change your life.

Five Ways to Find Inspiration

Sometimes life is tough and it’s hard to see the pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the rainbow. Fortunately, it’s easier than you think to find inspiration that will motivate you and keep you on the right path toward your goals.

Here are five quick and easy ways to find inspiration:

1. Use motivational quotes and affirmations. It seems that no matter how many times you read or hear your favorite quote, it resonates with you almost as much as the very first time you heard it. Adding to your collection will bring you an ever-flowing well of new inspiration.

• As your goals change, look for quotes and affirmations that reflect your new path so you can gain the inspiration to persevere in your new direction.

2. Find inspirational imagery. Sometimes you come across inspiration by spotting something in nature, like a beautiful sunset or freshly fallen snow. Other times you may be inspired by a photograph, an image in a book, or a painting at an art gallery.

• Perhaps the beauty of an image will inspire you to create something beautiful of your own. In the process, you’ll find new excitement and motivation to carry over into the other areas of your life.

• An image can also remind you of your destination, which will motivate you to work ever more swiftly with laser-like focus to reach your goal.

• Once you find an image that inspires you, rely upon it during stressful or difficult times as a visual reminder to keep moving forward.

3. Confide in strangers. A method you may find surprising as a source of inspiration is to talk to strangers when out and about. There’s an understood confidentiality clause with strangers. Because of the anonymity factor, people may actually become comfortable with someone they may never see again.

• Someone you meet by chance can bring you a new perspective on old challenges. The next time you’re out, try striking up a friendly conversation and share your thoughts.

4. Let your neighbors inspire you with their stories. When you hear someone’s story of personal triumph or hardship while standing in line at the neighborhood post office or sitting in the waiting room at your local doctor’s office, you just may be able to relate to this person.

• Because you’re neighbors or friends, it’s as if you have an instant connection. Their story could very well be yours, with a few different details. Seek out their stories and let them inspire you!

5. Watch motivational videos. Websites like YouTube offer a plethora of motivational and inspirational videos. Some videos, such as the late Randy Pausch’s poignant “Last Lecture,” has inadvertently inspired millions, even though it was originally intended for a much more personal audience.

• People often use YouTube to tell their stories, share successes, and offer advice or encouragement. When facing a challenge, or if you need some words of wisdom from someone who’s “been there, done that,” you’ll surely find inspiration here.

The next time you feel like you need some extra inspiration, try these sources. You may be surprised at how well they work to get you happily working toward fulfilling your goals and living the life you desire.

Build Confidence With Daily Affirmations

You can build confidence using daily affirmations! Do you suffer from low self-esteem? When something negative happens in your life, do you beat yourself up about it time and time again?

Focusing on phrases such as: “That was stupid,” “I am so fat,” “No one loves me,” and a host of other negative statements can easily zap the happiness right out of your life.

Luckily, this doesn’t have to be permanent. Positive affirmations can turn your negativity around. Affirmations are simply statements or phrases, which focus on the positive rather than the negative.

These mantras can actually reprogram your subconscious thinking and bring you a plethora of good benefits that you’ll enjoy for years to come!

Here are some easy ways to incorporate positive daily affirmations into your life:

1. Affirmations should always be in the present tense. Begin your statements with “I can” “I have” or “I am,” instead of a phrase like “I will” or “I may.”

• Examples of this would be “I have a beautiful body” and “I am so intelligent,” instead of “I will never be so stupid again.”

• Choose statements that focus on the positive attributes you want to encourage, saying them as if you already exhibit that behavior.

2. Address yourself by name when expressing your affirmations. Believe it or not, this does make a big difference. When you say: “I, Jane Doe, am a beautiful person both inside and out,” it makes your affirmation more powerful because you hear the lovely sound of your own name!

• Using your name in the affirmations allows your subconscious to process the words even quicker.

3. Focus on one or two affirmations to start with. Although you possess many positive attributes, it’s best to focus only on one or two when you’re first starting out. If you start with twenty positive affirmations, your subconscious may be overwhelmed or dismiss the deeper meaning.

• For example, if you meet someone who goes on and on about how great and beautiful you are, what’s your reaction? Usually after the second or third compliment, you tend to wonder if this person is actually being sincere! The same principal applies to practicing many affirmations at once.

• Focus on one or two, and when they’re firmly planted into your subconscious, you can move on to more.

4. Practice your affirmations as often as possible. Our subconscious mind is more open to suggestions when we first open our eyes in the morning and then again when we’re ready to fall asleep at night.

• The more often you recite your affirmations, the faster you’ll experience lasting changes.

5. Don’t fret if you’re having trouble writing your affirmations. There are many books and self-improvement websites that include hundreds of good, daily affirmations. You can then pick out one or two that you’d like to focus on and get started.

• Don’t let something as insignificant as not being able to compose a positive mantra hold you back from making changes and incorporating happiness into your life!

Low self-esteem is something that holds us back from living the life we deserve. You can rebuild your confidence and self-esteem with daily affirmations and experience the joy of life you’ve been missing. Try it and you’ll love it!