Becoming More Positive
This post is sort of an add on series to my last post "Personal Growth". If you have not read that one, I suggest reading that one first. Becoming more positive about life, especially when it doesn't seem to be in your favor is part of personally growing. When you have finally mastered being able to be positive about every aspect in your life, then that's growth on growth on growth in itself.
We all know I am a psychology freak, so I am assuming some were soon enough expecting another psychology post, well here it is. Today I am citing on the words of psychologist Shawn Anchor who did a ted talk on "The Happy Secrete to Better Work".
In this video he talks mainly of how to retrain your brain to think happy and be happy. He states that 90% of our happiness is how our brain processes things. So basically, lets say I gave someone, a lucky penny, it has a little dirt and grime on it because its an old penny, but in my mind its still a lucky penny, and I want the them to have my lucky penny. They take the penny and immediately their brain starts turning and wondering "why would this girl give me a dirty nasty penny, why couldn't she have given me a clean pretty one, nothing ever works out for me". This person's brain never even thought that the penny was for luck or that the penny stood for something good, they just focused on how it looked. Their brain didn't process it in a way I had processed it, therefore they weren't as happy as I had expected them to be....since I gave them my lucky penny!
Shawn also states that 70% of our job successes are predicted from our optimism levels. If you go into a job really nervous, that is totally normal and okay, but how you handle that nervous feeling is what matters. I recently started a new office job, something I never really have done before. I had experience in bits and pieces of it through other jobs, but not the whole thing. I was very nervous. The night before, I told myself, I will go in knowing nothing, but I will be a sponge and learn as much as I can and do what I can to be helpful. When I started my job the next day I was not nervous at all because I already knew I knew nothing, but I had made that promise and was optimistic that I would learn. Now someone else on the other hand may be starting that same job and thinking they aren't going to be good enough, smart enough, fast enough all the way until they walk in that door for their first day, and typically they will struggle that first day, come home and not want to go back. Instead of being optimistic, they worried about something they could not control.
Shawn says that we can rewire and retrain our brain to think positive and to think optimistic, because we must think those things first before being successful or happy. He says that we need to stop thinking "If I do this , then ill be happy". We need to go into it already positive and already optimistic that everything will work in our favor. I am guilty of not doing this. I keep thinking that if I get through this year then I'll be happy. I shouldn't think like that, I should already feel and be happy for what I am and where I am going to go. I am surrounded by so many people that care about me and love and support me, I have a roof over my head and I am not struggling to live, I should be positive about all of that!! and You should too.
Here are some things Shawn said can help you retrain your brain in 21 days:
1. Write down three things you are grateful for
2. Journal about positive experiences
3.Exercise (duh)
4. Meditate
5. Random acts of kindness
I also highly recommend watching his ted talk! It's great!
XOXO, rachel
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