I
am sure that by now you have heard about the power of positive thinking. What
may be unclear, however, is exactly how positive thinking works. Positive thinking
can accomplish so many things from minor health cures (placebo effect) to major
health cures to weight loss, to positive mental image, and self esteem, but how
exactly does it work?
The
human brain is so complex that there is much more that we don't about it than
what we do know. Just as we have the ability to 'think ourselves sick' otherwise
known as hypochondria, it would make sense to assume we could think ourselves
well. Of course this won't work for everything but your mental state will
have a profound effect on your treatment and the outcome of your illness.
If
you have a meeting you are dreading or an event that you do not wish to attend,
have you ever noticed that every possible thing that could go wrong does? The
amazing thing is it isn't a conscious effort and everything that goes wrong escalates
to the point that you are absolutely convinced that you shouldn't have gone in
the first place.
Yet,
the very fact that you are dreading it and having negative thoughts sets into
motions a chain of events, subconsciously that sabotages your potential enjoyment
of the event from the beginning.
On
the other hand, by teaching your mind to look forward to something almost guarantees
your enjoyment of it. I'm not talking about having an elevated opinion of what
is going to be (which can lead to feelings of disappointment) but honestly looking
forward to something. So, by teaching our minds to look forward to things we
would normally dread we are making positive thinking work for us.
Positive
thinking works first and foremost, by setting our minds up to accept the best
in the situation rather than condemning our minds to experience the worst.
By making a consistent effort to think positively, over time you are creating
new habits and you will eventually not have to work at thinking positively, it
will become second nature.