The Power of Positive Thinking

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”~Dr. Wayne Dyer

While I was at a training, I heard an alarming statistic. Did you know that 90% of our emotions are being processed without our attention?! 90 PERCENT PEOPLE! What?! And do you know what else…these emotions, that we are completely unaware of, are changing our body and nervous system. Now a days, many people do understand the connection between mind-body, such as emotional distress can manifest into stomach aches, headaches, and other physical hurts. Most professionals in the helping field understand the connection between trauma and physical illnesses (an amazing book for further understanding this is “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD). What happens to the body when a person holds onto resentments, anger, and the belief that the world is a negative and unsafe place (aka. cynical outlook)? Well my friends, I will educate you…

• more likely to have heart disease
• higher risk of stroke
• increased risk for Type 2 diabetes
• increased risk of digestive problems
• weakened immune system
• more prone to viral infections

Our thoughts and emotions have widespread effects on bodily processes like metabolism, hormone release, and immune function. One theory is that when you’re stressed or depressed, cortisol levels increase, making your immune system less able to control inflammation, which could lead to disease over time. When your thoughts create emotional distress, it lights up your amygdala. Your amygdala is part within the brain that is responsible for emotions, survival instincts, and memory. So let’s look at fear, which is a very important emotion for survival. When one lives in a constant state of fear, the messages sent throughout the body creates a state of hyperarousal. Your body believes it has to be ‘on watch’ at all times. Can you imagine how exhausting this is?! No wonder why there are so many health issues related to negative thinking and emotions. And just a reminder…90% of our emotions are being processed without our awareness!

Let’s take a moment to increase our awareness of the types of negativity that exist:

• Cynicism: a general distrust of people and their motives
• Hostility: unfriendliness towards others; unwilling to develop relationships
• Filtering: only noticing the bad in what should be a happy experience or memory
• Polarized Thinking: the belief that is something or someone is not perfect, then they must be horrible
• Jumping to Conclusions: assuming something bad will happen because of circumstances in the present
• Catasrophizing: the belief that disaster is inevitable
• Blaming: blaming others for personal maladies, and feeling that you are victim to life’s uncontrollable events
• Emotional Reasoning: using your emotions to define what is real and what is not
• Fallacy of Change: the thinking that if people or circumstances change, you can then be happy
• Reward Fallacy: type of negativity that assumes there will always be a reward for hard work and sacrifice, and when the reward does not come, resentments are created

At this point, you may have identified a few of your own thinking patterns above and wondering if there is hope. Good news…there IS hope for change. Even better news…you are the only one who can make that change! YAY! YOU hold this power! So, let me end on a positive note on steps to take to make some of these changes TODAY:

• Meditate people! And no…I am not going to tell a beginner to meditate for 30 mins. Take 3 minutes out of your day to sit still and listen to your thoughts. I suggest you set a timer. If 3 minutes seems impossible at this moment, set it for one minute. Get in a relaxed sitting position. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths, then settle in to noticing your thoughts. Allow them to come and go like waves washing up on the beach. Simply notice without judgment, without holding onto the thoughts, or suppressing them. Simply notice. There are so many apps out there that can assist with this. My favorite is Insighttimer https://insighttimer.com/, because it is FREE and has like 35,000 meditations.
• Mindfulness. This is somewhat different from quiet meditation because it can be guided. Mindfulness is pure awareness of the present moment. You don’t have to be sitting in a calm and reflective state. You can be walking, hanging out with your friends, family, kids, pets. The focus is on staying fully present without the distractions of worrying thoughts, multitasking, etc.
• Exercise. Yep. Get out there and move. Physical activity stimulates the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These brain chemicals play an important part in regulating your mood.
• Surround yourself with positive people. If you surround yourself with pessimism, that is what you will embrace. Your energy is impacted by the energy that surrounds you. So heighten your happiness frequency by surrounding yourself with those who see the world as a loving place, and they will create the love that you need at that moment.
• Laugh. Please take yourself and others lightly. Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humor in everyday happenings. When you can laugh at life, you release the ‘feel good’ chemicals in your brain.

With all that is going on in this world today, my hope is that you found something in this writing helpful. My hope is that we love ourselves and turn our love onto others. We treat ourselves with compassion and compassionately approach others.

Much love, LJ

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