Negative Thinking
If you are fed up with feeling negative all the time, then it’s time to change.
The Negative View
Negative thinking is not a modern day curse. Our ancient ancestors would have needed to have quite a negative view on life in order to survive in very harsh conditions.
If you think about it, in days gone by if our ancestors had taken silly, optimistic risks they may well have ended up as lunch in the belly of a predator!
And, it's only as recently as the 18th century that people actually began to consider that they might deserve to be happy.
Prior to this, life was tedious and painful. It was a common thought that suffering was part of the human condition.
These days, despite what the media would have us believe, life is not as dangerous now as it was back then.
Negative thinking can impact on every part of our lives, causing us to suffer prolonged stress. This, in turn, can affect our immune systems.
The Positive View
Research suggests that when we are feeling positive, the world is a better place. We notice more opportunities and grasp what life has to offer.
What's more, positive thinking improves our health, our immune systems and keeps us looking and feeling younger.
It has also been proven that people who are positive are actually luckier than those who are negative.
In recent years there has been a movement towards what is known as positive psychology. Researchers started studying happiness, rather than just depression and this has led to far more understanding about what gives us purpose, fulfilment and meaning in life..
We all need to learn how to thrive, not just survive. With a positive mindset we can flourish and help others to flourish too.
The Research
There is an increasing body of evidence that shows how positivity is good for us and which should help us to understand that life is better now than ever before.
In 2011, Steven Pinker wrote a 800 page book entitled, "The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined".
Pinker states:
“Violence has been in decline for thousands of years, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in the existence of our species.”
This alone should make us feel happier.
There is much more research but here are a couple of links to whet your appetite:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/articles/201307/what-happy-people-do-differently
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9690/scientific-proof-that-negative-beliefs-harm-your-health.html
Change your Beliefs and Change your Life
Hypnotherapy is a great way to change our beliefs, which can help people to feel calm, settled and happy. Life really is what we make it and the things we tell ourselves makes all the difference. When we start to change the habit of negative thinking it can sometimes feel a little difficult. We are creatures of habit and this refers not just to the things we do but also to our thoughts.
It is said that we have up to 60,000 thoughts per day and that around 80% of these are negative. We also repeat our thoughts day after day – as much as 95% of our thoughts are said to be the same ones that we loop through over and over again. Remember, we always live in two places – the outside world “out there” and the inner world, which we shape with our thoughts.
Finding your way to a happier, more fulfilled life is the first step you can take towards a future that is full of possibilities, opportunities and health.
The way you see the world is the most important thing that affects your life today.