Daily Positive Thoughts

I used to think negatively a lot. I did not notice this myself as I learned my way of thinking from the people around me when I was a child. And children don't know to question such things. I actually thought I was a very positive person.

My waking up to the fact came one day when I was sitting in a bus, letting my thoughts wander. It was a beautiful day outside, yet suddenly I noticed I wasn't feeling good. I was complaining about some matter in my mind, something I had observed.

Suddenly I questioned why on earth was I thinking about this negative issue, which wasn't even mine. Why was I letting it ruin a perfectly good day and make me feel bad?

I chewed on my thoughts and understood I had rushed to react to them emotionally. I was actually creating my mood with my thoughts when I did not discipline my thinking. And I was not doing it with daily positive thoughts - no, my thoughts were surprisingly negative.

That's when it hit home that we actually affect our mood with the thoughts and words we choose every day. The feeling was almost electric. If they were my thoughts, I could have control of them, and thus affect my mood.

Ever since then I started studying how to think positively. I learned about affirmations, and how they work or don't work. The key word being emotion. If I just repeated affirmations that were too different from my present reality, I felt conflict, and negative feeling and that never created anything good.

If, however, I could drop the issue when it did not make me feel good, and concentrate on anything else that made me feel better, I could later return to the original issue and find its positive edge. Or the famous silver lining on a cloud, if you will. 

So the biggest magic in daily positive thoughts to me was that my attitude towards life changed to something much more enjoyable. When I was in a good mood, handling life's issues was a lot easier. 

It takes practice, learning the habit of daily positive thoughts. Your deeply ingrained thought patterns need to be recognized, and then you need to work on them systematically.

Pay attention to your first thoughts in the morning. In the evening, decide what you will think in the morning (from a positive angle). Love your bed, enjoy your pillow, count your blessings. Don't go to sleep after watching something disturbing on TV. Your last thoughts before falling asleep affect the quality of your sleep - and your next morning.

Listen to positive podcasts,  clip positive news from papers or write them down. Write a positive affirmation on your calendar every day. You'll find them galore on the internet.

Learn to state what would be great if you achieved what you wanted (not why you hate the lack of it). 

Pay attention to other people's talk - how often it is just complaining? In your mind think how you would say it positively. And try not to take part in the discussion. Often negative people just want to drag others to their own level - you know the famous saying how misery loves company? If you don't take part in the complaining, the other person will soon find another target to shoot down with their negativity.

No, you don't need to be the rubbish dump of other people's negative thoughts. You know when that happens when you feel drained of energy after talking to someone. Energy vampires I call them.

Watch funny movies, read funny jokes, try to laugh a lot. In that state of mind, choose a positive thought and milk it as long as it feels good.

Remember you don't need to be 100% positive all the time. No one can do that. It is enough that you are 51% positive and you are slowly but surely transforming your way of thinking towards daily positive thoughts - and transforming your life to something much more enjoyable.