Let’s take a trip down memory lane for a minute. What was your childhood like?
Assuming you came from a good family and life was mostly non-chaotic, you probably had a pretty good childhood. Of course that is assuming a lot. We didn’t all grow up with the ideal circumstances. And if that is you, do you have kids now that are growing up with more stable foundations? Or do you know of someone with kids that are doing good?
Here’s the thing, kids are amazing. They embody everything innocent, curious, and fun that life has to offer. They are sponges, always trusting and eager to learn. They are the epitome of a positive thinking human.
Is it any wonder that Jesus Christ urged all his followers to be more childlike?
At some point in our lives, the wonder and amazement of living starts to take a turn towards the cynical and sometimes pessimistic thinking that we often see around us. But this doesn’t happen to all of us. Some of us still maintain that positive outlook on life. These people are truly lucky. Lets talk about why.
- Why Is Being Optimistic, Positively The Best Mentality To Own?
There’s a lot that can get us down. Sometimes its the unforeseen consequences of our actions, regardless of how well intentioned they started out. Sometimes life is just hard, for no fair reason at all. There are a lot of people who can tell you a lot of reasons why their life is so difficult, but you don’t want to listen to that, because your challenges are just as, if not infinitely worse off.
The more we dwell on the guilt, the hardness, the unfairness of everything, the more it leads us into depression and anxiety. Then there are those annoying people, who are always chipper. They have it all going for them. Trouble seems to bounce off them, like they were some Marvel comic hero.
How is it that they got so lucky? Here’s the truth, they have just as much crap happening in their life as you do. For whatever reason they have somehow managed to adopt an attitude of gratitude, an outlook of optimism, a patter of positivity.
This mentality allows them to see the good in every situation. Negative consequences for their actions turn into meaningful learning experiences. Illness and tragedy help them see the value in their relationships all the more. There is one other thing that they get, that negative thinking can never grant, and that is a higher degree of success in all their activities.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed by tasks that seem insurmountable, they dive in and get the work done. Employers trust, hire, and promote them over negative thinking people, because even if they are just as good if not worse than others, they don’t complain and they lift the mood of the company culture. Their attitude puts them in a position to learn and grow more quickly.
Positive thinking also helps you out in your family. People want to be around others who lift them up and make them happy. You cannot do this if you are always focused on the negative.
- What About Being Realistic?
There is a real place for being realistic, even for the perpetually optimistic. Sometimes, too much optimism can lead to overconfidence and error. Tempering positive thinking with a degree of realism should always be considered, however, it can be all too easy to allow realism to morph into pessimism.
Was realistic thinking a factor in Amazon’s founder—Jeff Bezos career? He thought outside the box and created a hugely disruptive company. How about the Wright Brothers? The examples are too numerous to expound upon.
Did they still face a huge amount of risk in their endeavors? Of course, but risk isn’t always bad. Stupid risk is bad. Climbing a cliff without any safety gear, I would argue that is stupid risk, even if it is highly optimistic of the free climber to do.
I was blessed with an optimistic outlook on life. I think my faith in God had a lot to do with it. Not ever fully growing up helped a little too. Being a positive thinker is what attracted my wife to me. Being a positive thinker is what allowed me to rebound after I lost $500,000 in a failed business launch.
I’ve got two foot surgeries this year that are crippling me for 4-6 months each, with about 2 years of physical therapy to look forward to after that before I can be truly recovered, and where everyone else is offering their sympathies, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve prepared my life for the disruptions, so that even when I’m stuck in bed for months at a time, I’ll have work to keep busy with, and no reason to feel frustrated, confined or sorry for myself.
This positive thinking has been a huge superpower in my life, but what if you struggle with this?
- How To Overcome Negative Thinking
This is so hard to do. We all know and want to be better, but our feelings are so ingrained in our subconscious, that it’s next to impossible to reach in there and flip it like a switch.
So can it even be done? Absolutely. There are multiple methods. I would suggest that one of the strongest sources of healing from this type of thinking can be achieved through faith in a power that is higher than us. Yes I’m talking about God.
Faith in a God that has a plan for us, can proffer a powerful change in how we think and feel.
Also, creating an actual goal based growth plan can help. I’ve done this, and it can really change your life. Rather than listing out your problems, because you’re already very familiar with those, list out the good qualities you already have, the blessings you’ve already received. These are the things, especially as we compare ourselves with others, that we tend to forget about.
Then once you see all the good in your life, create goals around the good you still want to add to your life. Make the goals small enough that you can achieve them, but big enough that you have to stretch for them.
Create pre-programmed responses for when common disappointments happen. Craft these responses in a way that you think should make you feel better, even if in the beginning it doesn’t work.
Talk to yourself as if you were already there. The lies you tell yourself will eventually become the truth you tell yourself. It may sound funny, but your subconscious can be convinced by your conscious persuasions, though some might take longer than others to convince.
In the end, it truly is a blessing to have a positive outlook on life. But if you feel that you’ve lost that, for any reason at all, find a way to gain it back. Lost loved ones want you to be happy, your employer wants you to be happy, your employees want you to be happy, and your living friends and family want you to be happy.
You can do it, I believe in you!
Don’t forget to check out my YouTube Channel. I have a fun skit about being positive:
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