“A negative mind can never give you a positive life.” -Anonymous
3 months ago, I would wake up in the middle of the night from panic attacks. My mind was racked with worry. I constantly accounted for negative “what if” scenarios…
All day, every day, I assumed the worst would happen. I thought I had to be prepared, but here’s the thing: the worries I had were affecting me as if they had already happened.
My body responded as if all my fears were real, and I was constantly going in and out of doctors offices trying to understand why my back and neck was in so much pain. I was 26. This shouldn’t have been happening, but it was. A slow deterioration of mind, body, and soul.
Skip ahead to the end of summer, and I am happier than I’ve ever been…
What changed?
Nothing did, except for my mindset. I decided to retrain my mind for positivity and emotional resilience. I was tired of accounting for all the worst case scenarios. Instead, I wanted to envision all the best things that could happen instead, and let that optimism energize me. My dreams, goals, hopes, and passion literally started to fuel me, and things just started to work out.
Napoleon Hill states in “Think and Grow Rich” that positive emotions are the key to a successful life–and must be strengthened.
So how did I go about eliminating negativity from my life? I followed these 4 steps.
1.Replace a negative thought with a positive one immediately
As soon as a negative thought entered my mind, I instantly either blocked it or reframed it into a positive thought. For example, in tough situations, I would begin to think, “Why did this happen to me?” Then, I would instantly reframe to ask instead, “What can I learn from this? How can I use this situation to grow?” It changed my view of obstacles. Instead of seeing them as a road block, I now see them as an opportunity for development.
2.I surrounded myself with positive people.
Energy is contagious. There is a popular saying that “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” Despite no longer being in high school, I had a few people that brought unnecessary drama into my life. By cutting them out and any one else that was a source of negative energy, I found I was naturally more cheerful and optimistic. Now, I feel out someone’s energy when I meet them. Are they positive? How do I feel when I’m around them? I am careful about who I let affect my vibes.
3.I filled my day with positive and motivational talks, books, and exercises
Self-learning, in my opinion, should never end, but instead of learning endlessly about entrepreneurship and marketing like I normally did, I took time to learn more about self care and psychology. I filled my days with content related to happiness, and as a result, I was more conscious of what it took to be happy and what would permit me from feeling positive. Having an almost clinical awareness of this allowed me to be a lot more careful in what thoughts I had–and ultimately, how I felt.
4.I learned that positivity is not a result of a positive outcome. It’s the other way around.
Positive people aren’t the way they are because of positive outcomes. Positive outcomes are the result of the actions of positive people. Even the most optimistic people face challenge and hardship, but when they hold onto faith that they will overcome it, solutions tend to unfold eventually.
What are some things you do to cultivate a positive mindset? Comment below & subscribe to the blog for more self development.
