Growth and Positive Mental Attitude
In our daily interaction with ourselves and the world, we deal with multiple factors that will impact the way we look at ourselves and the capacity we have to keep moving forward in life despite of possible drawbacks. These drawbacks are entirely subjective and they don't necessarily mean anything, unless we label them being positive or negative. For example, do we tend to see the glass as half empty or half full? Our answer to this question relates directly to the concept of positive thinking and whether we have a positive or negative outlook in life. In addition, our fixed beliefs about us and the amount of energy we give to negative or positive thoughts will either hold us back or push us to new heights respectively. Being aware of our thoughts plays an important role in our positive psychology, which is a sub-field of psychology devoted to the study of what makes people happy and fulfilled. (Ref - https://www.jstor.org/stable/27858244?seq=1)
Growth, Positive Mental Attitude, and Habits
So, how do we create a centered and positive mental attitude - the answer is habits!. If we embrace the idea that our habits aren't static, then this belief will be the critical first step to creating actual change in our lives, and focus on what is really important to us. For example, whether it's building a new skill, learning a new language, or breaking a bad habit, having and embracing a growth mindset will remind us that we are 100% capable of accomplishing any major goal.
What is a habit?
"Habits are routines of things that we do on a regular basis, some knowingly and some unknowingly.
Brushing our teeth twice a day, grocery shopping once a week, going out with friends every Tuesday... these are all habits that we may have developed over time.
Habits can make our lives better or worse, depending on the types of habits we have.
Habits are especially important if we are low on motivation. It’s easier to do something if it’s a regular habit than to force ourselves to do it randomly."
What Is Positive Thinking?
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln
Positive thinking is a habit that requires lots of attention and work. We might be tempted to assume that it implies seeing the world through rose-colored lenses by ignoring or glossing over the negative aspects of life. However, positive thinking actually means approaching life's challenges with a positive outlook.
"Positive thinking does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light."
Psychologist - Martin Seligman (Ref - https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/people/martin-ep-seligman) - relates positive thinking in terms of what is called an explanatory style. So what is an "explanatory style?" It is how we explain why events happened. For example, people with an optimistic explanatory style tend to give themselves credit when good things happen, but at the same time blame outside events for bad outcomes. These individuals also tend to see negative events as temporary.
On the other hand, individuals with a pessimistic explanatory style often blame themselves when bad things happen, but fail to give themselves adequate credit for successful outcomes. They also have a tendency to view negative events as expected and lasting. As you - my reader - can imagine, blaming ourselves for events outside of our control or viewing these unfortunate events as a persistent part of our lives can have a detrimental impact on our state of min over time. I have been exposed to this type of individuals in my early stages of life, and it takes lots of work to disassociate ourselves with mental habits that are related to a pessimistic explanatory style.
Health Benefits of Positive Thinking
Positive thinking is linked to a wide range of health benefits including:
- Longer life span
- Less stress
- Lower rates of depression
- Increased resistance to the common cold
- Better stress management and coping skills
- Lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death
- Increased physical well-being
- Better psychological health
Clearly, there are many benefits of positive thinking, but why exactly does positive thinking have such a strong impact on physical and mental health.
In theory, and this is my own subjective opinion, people who think positively tend to be less affected by stress. Another possibility is that people who think positively tend to live healthier lives in general; they may exercise more, follow a more nutritious diet and avoid unhealthy behaviors.
So how can we develop new habits around positive thinking and therefore positive growth? The below is what I'm starting to look at in my life. Sometimes is hard to embrace good habits, but the reward of a positive mental attitude model will help us go through tough times and enhance the good ones.
Acknowledging weaknesses: One of the simplest ways to overcome our weakness is to be honest with ourselves about our limitations and tackle them one by one with awareness and compassion.
Accepting challenges as opportunities: Embarking on a new challenge may be frightening due to the possible risk of failure. This of course may result in avoiding various new challenges that may give us some new insight about ourselves and instead making ourselves continuing down the usual path where we feel comfortable.
For example, how many times we tell ourselves that we are going to do something extraordinary and we feel great about it, but then we hold ourselves back to our own excuses that we tell ourselves so we can remain in our comfort zones.The more we challenge ourselves, the more opportunities we have to learn about ourselves. New challenges equal new opportunities.
Prioritizing learning over seeking approval: An interest aspect of mindfulness and its relationship to positive thinking is that we no loner seek approval. For example, when we are more concerned about getting approval from other people than about learning new things, we are giving up our own potential to grow. My experience over the years has been focusing on becoming an autodidact (or “self-taught” person).
Cultivate a sense of purpose: We nee to have goals in life - this is my truth. We tend to create a sense of purpose around memories - for example - because something happened to me (past) I will do something in the future. Although this is a positive outcome of learning, it is also related to clinging to the past. The idea of purpose in my mind is related to the idea that everyday is different, and therefore purpose may change based on where we are in a given day.
My focus moving forward is to ask myself on a regular basis what the purpose of the work that I'm doing. Am I doing it because I enjoy it, or is it part of a bigger goal? I have found that working with a purpose allow us and help us find the motivation to keep working and moving forward.
Acknowledging the need for improvement does not mean failure: Just because we need to improve in one area does not mean we have failed. It means that - if we see and acknowledge that we need to improve something we are on the right track, we're just not quite there yet, but it will happen.
Reflecting on our learning every day: This is a habit that needs to be cultivated daily. Making sure to absorb everything we learn throughout the day, whether this means writing down the main points at the end of the day or doing a little bit more research on a topic that interests us is really important when it comes to expanding our own journey.
I'm convinced that we have to journal our insights as this very act will help us sink into a witnessing state of "self", and realize that we don't know anything, but at the same time we welcome everything.
Peace and Love!
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