Posts tagged "Positive Thinking"

Self-Talk Can Improve Your Life

Self-talk is an integral constant in your life. You start talking to yourself when you wake up in the morning and don’t stop until you fall asleep at night. Who would’ve thought you had so much to say? Right? But you do!

When self-talk is positive and helpful, amazing things can happen. When self-talk is negative, life can be much more challenging than it has to be.

Like much of who you are, your style of self-talk is a habit that has been molded by your experiences and environment. Imagine how your life could change for the better if you were able to alter your self-talk into something more supporting and encouraging.

You can start living that life today! Just follow these simple steps to get started:

1. Make a list of your negative self-talk phrases and attitudes. For 24 hours, record everything you say to yourself that isn’t supportive, regardless of whether or not you think it’s true. Here are a few examples to get you thinking:

* “He would never want to talk to me.”
* “I’m not good enough for that.”
* “I could never do that.”
* “Things will never get better.”

2. Prioritize your list. Which items have the greatest negative impact on your life and your sense of happiness? Put the list in order, from greatest negative impact to least.

* Prioritizing is important because it will naturally force you to spend your time on the most important items.

3. Create a new list. Now that you’ve made your list, you’re going to improve it. Convert at least the first 10 items on your list into positive thoughts. If you’re feeling motivated, you can rewrite as many more as you like.

* Even if you don’t believe the new, positive idea, just change it into a positive version. For example, “I could never do that” changes to, “I can do anything I set my mind to.”

4. Change your thinking. Now, for the challenging part. Each time you catch yourself engaging in self-talk matching an item from your list, substitute the new self-talk expression.

* Be diligent at all times. Considering how many times you may have said the negative item to yourself, this new practice will require a lot of attention. The good news is that over time, the positive things you say to yourself will become a habit, too!

5. Move further down the list. After you’ve conquered the 10 most negative items, look at the list and consider how it would improve your life to change those remaining negative self-talk items. You may have formed such positive habits with your first 10 items that the rest of them might not really be applicable anymore!

Self-talk will always be there, so it will benefit you to exercise some control over it. Anything you hear over and over again, you start to believe. That’s the way our minds work.

The first step to gaining that control is to monitor your thoughts and feelings. Then the necessary steps can be taken to change it for the better. As with all habits, these self-talk patterns can be challenging to change, but doing so will really boost your happiness. Get started today!

Summer Memories

Keeping a Travel Journal of Your Summer Vacation

Summer is a magical time. For many, this season provides that once-a-year opportunity to travel somewhere exciting, exotic or relaxing. You may get to spend time with friends or family, or even luxuriate in a few days all by yourself.

Regardless of the type of summer vacation you plan this year, remember to pack a travel journal to record all those incredible experiences.

Use these tips to help you make the most of your travel journal:

1. Choose a blank journal in a style you like. Whether you want a fanciful print on the front, a tactile, cloth-covered book or simply a solid color cover, find a journal that suits your taste. You can most likely find a wide selection in your local bookstore.

* What will work the best for you? Decide in advance where and how you’d like to carry your journal during your trip. If you like to write, you may want one with full-size pages. On the other hand, you may be happier with one that fits in your purse or even your jacket pocket. You can jot down notes and fill in the details later.

* When purchasing a travel journal, remember that size does matter. Depending on where and how you travel, weight may also be a concern.

2. What do you want to record? Because travel is usually such a change from your routine, you might think you’ll never forget a moment of your trip. But a few years afterward, you won’t remember many of the details. You may want to capture these details in your journal:

* Complete date information including the year

* Where you went: the country and city

* Where you stayed: names and addresses of people’s homes or hotels and suite numbers

* Sights you saw

* Places you’d hoped to visit that you’ll catch the next time

* Descriptions of interesting foods you tried, including where you ate them

* Sights, sounds and smells as you walked down the street

* People you met

* How you got around the city: public or private transportation, and what kinds

* Souvenirs purchased for yourself and loved ones

* Details like, “The bed in the Smith Hotel was so lumpy, but I was exhausted and slept like a log” are interesting asides that you’ll later be glad you wrote.

* Most of all, record your feelings about your summer trip experiences, which will help you better recall your cherished moments of the vacation.

3. Take every opportunity to note your travel experiences. Make notes daily. Notes made soon after an event tend to be more specific, factual, and complete than those made at the end of the week.

* When in a cab or traveling by bus, pull out your pen and journal and write about what you’ve experienced so far that day.

* If you’re an artist, you could make a sketch or two of sights you’ve seen.

* At breakfast, jot down information about the evening before. Or mention what you plan to do that day.

* You may prefer to write your notes after you get back to the hotel for the evening.

4. During your vacation, collect flyers and brochures. They can help you fill in details of your experiences.

* For example, you might’ve already forgotten the name of the restaurant where you ate those delicious sandwiches at lunch. But if you remembered to keep the receipt or a brochure from the restaurant, you can refer to it later for the details.

* When you go shopping and you see brochures listing the stores and showing the floor plan, grab one to use later when you’re journaling about the day’s activities.

* These flyers can also help you put together a scrapbook when you return.

Keeping a journal of your summer vacation will preserve those precious memories forever. You’ll return to it over and over again to re-discover the special experiences you had. And someday, your children will be thrilled to read these personal accounts of your trips.

Try using a travel journal during this year’s summer vacation and make the most of your experiences!

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.