Train Your Mind to Positive Thought

Training your mind to practice positive thinking enables you to increase your self-esteem and perceived control in your life. Learning how your mind works and how to incorporate positive thoughts can help improve many areas, including work, family and social relationships. Improving your life through positive thinking, however, requires a proactive effort on your part to combat and change your current lifestyle and perceptual attitudes.



> Identify the internal negative thought patterns your mind uses. Types of negative thought patterns include: personalizing (blaming yourself), filtering (focusing only on the negative) and catastrophizing (anticipating the worst and blowing negative events out of proportion). Think of concrete examples in your own life in which you internalized problems and used these patterns to think negatively about situations.

> Practice positive self-talk. Think of a negative situation which you encountered over the past day or week. Turn the negative thoughts you had about the event into positive thoughts. For example, perhaps you experienced a flat tire on your way home from work. Instead of catastrophizing the event, find a way to spin it into a positive experience (e.g., you gained the important skill of changing a flat tire). Practice this positive self-talk for several negative situations or events that you've experienced to get into the habit of training your mind towards a different thinking pattern.

> Evaluate your thoughts throughout the days and weeks that follow. Periodically stop throughout the day to review your internal thoughts to determine if they have been mostly negative or positive. Think rationally about the negative thoughts which you do encounter. Find ways to spin those negative thoughts and train your mind to see them in a positive light.

> Create a positive thoughts journal. Spend time each evening or morning reflecting and writing down good things that have happened in your life or throughout the day. Acknowledging good events and positive experiences then writing them down helps improve your thinking habits and trains your mind to think positively.

> Find healthy ways to deal with stressful events and situations. Develop and keep an exercise routine several times a week. Exercise and regular physical activity stimulate brain chemicals that improve your mood and boost energy levels, according to the Mayo Clinic. Spend time each day in meditation, focusing on clearing your mind and on relaxation. Meditation decreases the negative effects of stress and rejuvenates the mind and body.

> Surround yourself with positive friends and family members. Negative people who continually focus on the bad and are unsupportive may only re-enforce negative thinking habits. Alternatively, making friends with and spending time with supportive individuals may help you achieve clarity when troubling situations arise.

Stop Taking Things Personally

Does someone else's bullying personality make you feel like you're worthless? Do you mistake people's antics for subtle insults? This article will highlight some ways in which you can remain unaffected by others' opinion of you, whether it's a weird look, a teasing remark, or direct criticism.courtesy:wikihow.com



Instructions:

Give the benefit of the doubt. If you have a habit of taking things personally, it means that you're apt to assume someone is directing some form of aggression towards you specifically, when they might be just joking around or having a bad day. It might be your instinct to react, or curl up into a ball emotionally, but pause for a second. Maybe it's not about you. Learn how to gain control of your emotions. Don't jump to conclusions.

Refocus your attention. When you take things personally, you shift your attention from what they said or did, to how you feel. Unless you move on from that point, it's likely that you'll ruminate, and the negative feeling will be amplified. Instead, focus again on the other person.

      > Look at how the person treats others. They might tease, pick on, or even insult everyone they cross paths with. Some people are just antagonistic like that.

      > Consider their insecurities. Could they feel threatened by you in some way? If so, don't feel bad for being your awesome self. Think about how you can help this person feel better about themselves.

      > Keep in mind that the other person may have poor communication and emotional management skills. Imagine that there's an inner child acting out, because the person hasn't learned how to deal with things in a mature way. It's much easier to be patient and feel compassionate when you visualize a learning child at the helm of their behavior.

Remind yourself that you don't need anyone's approval. If you're especially sensitive to people's behavior towards you, to the extent that you regularly overreact, it might be because you've got a strong radar for rejection. If you pick up on any kind of displeasure, you worry that you're doing something wrong, and you want to fix it eagerly and anxiously. But just because someone isn't happy with you doesn't mean you've done something wrong. In many cases, it means that person isn't happy with themselves, and expects you to fill in the blanks (which is impossible).

Speak up. Let the person know how you are feeling. They might not realize how hurtful or aggressive they seem and how it is affecting you. Use "I" statements. If this is recurring, use nonviolent communication to (hopefully) put an end to it, and resolve any underlying issues.

Stop taking compliments personally, too. If you base your self-worth on how much people compliment and validate you, then you're basically allowing others to decide how you feel about yourself. If someone compliments you, it's no more personal than a direct insult. They're simply calling it how they see it, and that may or may not be accurate--only you can be the judge of that. So if someone is positive towards you, that doesn’t make you a better person, it makes them a better person, because they're taking the time to be supportive and encouraging. Your value, your self-worth remains unchanged, because it's something that comes from within.

Think Positively

In order to think positively, you have to change your emotional and mental approach towards yourself, other people and situations.



* Make a decision to do your own thinking and have control over your attitude. That means deciding to conquer the negativity that is going on around you. Think of what you can do today and how you will react that will make a difference to your life instead of allowing people and situations to dictate.

* Associate or mix around with people who can provide something of value. Avoid those who sap your energy and motivation. If you can't avoid them, or don't want to, learn how not to let them get you down.

* Start saying positive things especially about yourself. How you communicate to yourself affects your thinking and your emotions, as well as your self-esteem.

* Try new things. Experiencing a wide variety of life in a positive light will do wonders. Something as simple as trying the mussels in a restaurant can lead to new tastes and different sensations.

* Read more. Read about how those people who fought fear with courage and succeeded in life. Through reading, you will gain new knowledge and understanding and it will help you clear whatever is blocking your thinking and create more ideas.

* Set goals no matter how impossible it may seem at the moment. Keep yourself busy working on them. Once you reach one, you will get inspired. With each goals achieved no matter how small, you will gain confidence and your self-esteem will increase.

* Change your mental pictures. What and how you see yourself and your surroundings make a difference to your thinking. You are visualizing or imagining something at every waking hour. Start to change your old internal dis-empowering pictures with images of something that you wish to experience.

* Start questioning yourself on your behavior and attitude. Ask yourself why you are resisting or producing the habits or attitudes that you dislike. Stop each time you catch yourself in a circumstance that brings about negativity and doubts.