Positive Thinking and 20 Amazing Benefits That Come With It!

POSITIVE THINKING AND 20 AMAZING BENEFITS THAT COME WITH IT!

I so much love babies!

I’m sure you do too.

I love their fragility, beauty, scent, babbling and most of all; I love their attitude towards life.

They are unbothered and very optimistic.

A baby that is about to walk can fall more than 30 times on a daily basis.

Instead of giving up and feeling depressed about it, the baby simply picks himself up; forgetting the past and pain, he tries again.

You were once like that.

So what happened to that ever-winning, undying, result-oriented, positive attitude of yours?

LIFE!!!

I am sure that is the answer popping up in your mind.

We all have, at one time or another, seen the ugly side of life.

You have been disappointed, dejected, disapproved and nearly destroyed by people, circumstances, and what have you.

Life has beaten you up so much that you do not expect much from it, and before the result of anything comes out, you already made pessimistic conclusions in your mind in order to avoid being too disappointed when the result tallies.

This mindset is the basis of many lives out there and that is why many are living far below who they are and what they are capable of doing.

Today, I am set to help you out of such a mindset and bring back the original positive mindset you were created with (the ever-winning ‘baby’ mindset).

Let’s take a quick drive through twenty benefits embedded in positive thinking:

1. Improved way of life

Your thoughts have the capacity to greatly influence your lifestyle. It affects the way you eat, dress, act, react, etc. If you are a person who actively engages himself in positive thoughts then, without doubt, you have a healthy lifestyle.

However, if you engage more in negative thoughts, then you are likely to have an unhealthy lifestyle.

Negative people tend to be moody and very depressed. In a bid to distract themselves, they give in to unhealthy eating habits and sleep unhealthily; either not having enough rest or sleeping excessively.

They also care less about their appearance because they feel they have nothing to be excited about. Positive thinking helps you make good decisions as to how to take good care of yourself.

Despite the odds of life, there are a thousand and one good things to live for. Therefore, feed healthy, sleep healthily, dress beautifully, speak positively and enjoy every moment of life.

2. Improved health

You’d agree with me that there is a connection between the mind and the body.

Whenever your mind is at rest, your body responds likewise.

However, the occurrences of the world seem to disagree with a constant rest of mind; bad news everywhere.

Being a human, your mind tends to respond to the situations of its environment and when the situation on the outside world is negative, the mind unconsciously gives in to the negativism through worry, fear, depression, etc., which has the ability to affect your health NEGATIVELY.

Negative thoughts make your immune system less active, while positive thoughts improve your immune system in such a way that it readily combats against foreign agents.

Therefore, when next your mind wants to subconsciously give in to negativity (chaos) that is inherent in the world, consciously take the steering wheel and redirect your thoughts back into something positive.

I’m sure you want to live long enough to see better days, so you should take over that thought.

As the popular saying goes, ‘tough times don’t last, tough people do.’

3. Lowers stress levels

Positive thinking leads to positive emotion and positive emotion helps lower your stress levels.

How does this happen?

As popularly believed, there is a connection between the mind (seat of cognition) and the body.

Therefore, when your thoughts are good, i.e., positive, your body tends to be at ease, hence you are more relaxed and not tensed or stressed.

However, when your thoughts are negative, you subject your body to stress.

Your thoughts about what happens in your life daily determine chemical reactions that take place in the body.

A deeper explanation for this is:

Your thoughts have a way of influencing the neurotransmitters in your body. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers responsible for almost all the functions of the body. They also allow the brain to communicate with various part of itself and the nervous system.

Hence, your body interprets and responds to whatever information is passed by the neurotransmitters.

When your thought is negative, there is a rise in the level of catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine).

Catecholamines have a direct link to stress levels because an increase sends a message of perceived danger to the body, and the body prepares for this danger in various ways which include a rise in blood pressure. 🙁 

4. It increases your creativity

With positive thoughts comes a “can do” spirit. Nothing looks impossible for you when your thoughts are positive.

Your brain is able to figure things out faster and better because your mind and body are at rest.

You are also able to manoeuvre things to bring about innovation.

Negative emotions sabotage our brain’s ability to solve problems and ignore distractions, while positive emotions and thoughts actually improve the brain’s executive function.

5. Positive thinking keeps you going

When you are optimistic, no matter what life throws at you, you will definitely pull through.

When you fall off the ladder of success you are climbing or about climbing through rejection or disappointment, you will definitely pick yourself back up.

Thomas Edison makes a very good example of a positive thinker, after trying a single experiment for a whopping 999 times; he kept at it until the 1000th time when he had a breakthrough.

So, when next you want to give in to negative thoughts or emotions and give up on your dreams take a quick glance at the light bulb in your room and remember Thomas Edison.

Read – Read the failure stories of 20 successful people

6. It makes you beautiful

 

Various studies show that stress makes one age faster and one of the major causes of stress is negative thinking.

High-stress levels trigger the release of inflammatory mediators which bring about the production of collagenase and metalloproteinases.

These are enzymes responsible for collagen and elastin breakdown, therefore, leading to increased wrinkling, laxity and ageing.

However, positive emotions release endorphins and neurotransmitters that reduce inflammation in the skin. This brings about an increase in blood flow to the face.

7. It attracts people to you

As earlier said and described, positive thinking makes you beautiful and like you and I know; people are attracted to beautiful people.

When people also notice that you are an optimistic person, they want to draw close to you because they see you as a source of hope and inspiration.

8. Unique coping skills

Coping skills is your ability to be able to think in such a manner that helps you pull through unpalatable life situations.

When you consciously allow positive thoughts over negative ones, you are able to stand out with your coping skills.

9. Increased confidence

Your thought has a link to your esteem; your pose and in general your outlook on life.

A negative thinking pattern exposes you to low self-esteem because you focus more on what is wrong with you, what is not working for you, how cruel people are to you, etc.

This makes you go through life as a shadow of your real self.

Low self-esteem does not just end with you feeling bad about yourself but can lead to a series of other problems such as anxiety, exam malpractice, depression, worry and suicidal thoughts (oops… Negative thinking is that bad).

Can you see why you need an adjustment in your thinking?

Positive thinking does the exact opposite of what negative thinking do. It makes you see yourself as someone who is loved and appreciated, therefore you move about confidently.

Even when life throws lemons at you, you know that what happens on the outward does not define who you are but you define you. Hence you take charge of the situation confidently and not otherwise.

When next you are about to give in to negative thoughts, always remember that you have a choice of either making your inner being live in defeat, or in victory. This can only happen when you give in to positive thinking which has a direct link to your esteem.

10. Increased cardiovascular health

Some group of researchers in the United Kingdom carried out a survey on 8000 people and discovered that those who engage more in positive thinking and a sense of well-being enjoyed a 30% lower risk of developing heart disease.

Unlike negative thoughts and emotion which releases stress hormone that leads to a physical stress response, a result of which is a higher heart rate and blood pressure.

Positive thoughts and emotion help your heart and body to be more relaxed even in tensed situations. This makes your heart healthy because it is not subjected to unnecessary stress and shock.

11. Resistance to diseases

One other thing positive thinking does for you is that it graces you with emotional vitality.

When you are balanced emotionally, your immune system is influenced such that it is able to battle any anomaly in your body more effectively.

One can say a healthy thought brings about a healthy life.

Additionally, positive thoughts have also proven to be beneficial in providing relief from stress, and it helps decrease chronic pain and diseases.

A study shows that burn patients experienced more than 50% less pain during their burn treatments when playing a virtual reality game.

As Sheldon Cohen (a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University) notes: “…When under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal control and produce levels of inflammation that promote disease.

However, positive thoughts bring about changes in the body that strengthens the immune system, give relief from stress and generally help decrease inflammation.

12. It attracts positive events

Your thought pattern influences your talk.

That is, when you are a person that practices positive thinking, your words will also be positive and this brings about various opportunities.

People will want to be around you and hear you talk. 

13. It makes you look younger

Positive thoughts release neurotransmitters that help reduce inflammation in the skin. This brings about an increase in blood flow to the face

14. Vital for success

There is barely anyone who achieved great success and was able to maintain it that did so by accident.

The thoughts of such people matter. People who believe that they will be successful do excel in their given purpose.

In reality, we are what we think we are. A positive mindset displays a good image of you at present and a portrait of who you are gonna be in the future.

Without this bit of “faith”, success is not a reality that can be maintained.

15. Positive thinking makes you grateful

A man stuck in his car stuck in traffic looked up and saw an aeroplane. He thought, “How I wish I had a plane”.

The pedestrian saw the man in the car seating comfortably and wished he had his own car.

A lame man begging on the sidewalk wished he could walk.

Someone in the grave must have wished he could live before he finally died.

Life has its vicissitudes and mishaps but only when you have a positive mindset can you truly be grateful for where you are, having in mind that you are going to better places.

Or better still; you can make your current habitat better.

16. Increases Influence

“The problem with your idea is that, if the proposal is rejected, it will be a huge slap. Besides that, the plan cannot work” – The words of a pessimist.

Have you ever been in a group where someone was always seeing the negative turnout of other people’s suggestions?

They most likely are the same people who never have any good ideas to bring to the table.

Such pessimists are rarely voted into leadership because their attitude weighs down everyone else.

People with a positive attitude make the best leaders. Everyone wants someone who can see the good in them and encourage them to achieve their goals.

Be that kind of person, who says, “You can do it, bro”, “Try again, I believe in you”, “I think you have what it takes”, and you will have people desiring to be around you; that way you can impact them positively.

17. Destroys negative paradigms

Paradigms are stereotypes that are wired deep in our minds. They form the very core of our basic belief. They are empirical and control the way we perceive life.

Let me ask a question, “Can people fly?” Yes of course, with aeroplanes.

This seems like an easy answer. A normal response. But previously, there was nothing normal about it.

Some centuries ago, you would have been considered a lunatic, crazy, demented, bananas, weird, deranged, wacky and on drugs to have said something like that.

In the Renaissance period, Leonardo da Vinci designed what is known as the first aircraft (Ornithopter); and later on 1903, the Wright Brothers developed the first successful aeroplane.

Everyone else thought of it as blasphemy. After all, if God wanted men to fly, He would have given him wings.

These wright brothers, with their positive thinking, began to say in their hearts, “It is possible for a man to fly too”.

Today man flies on a daily basis and it is no big deal to speak of flying. But it was the positive thinking of some men that displaced the old paradigm.

Read: How to apologize for a mistake professionally

18. Nurtures relationships

Relationships are so essential because they are what form the core of social life.

Whether as family, friends or colleagues, relationships are essential. The truth is that we think of others what we think of ourselves. People with a “can do” attitude think well of themselves and others.

Hence, the relationships you have as a positive person gets well nurtured.

You can’t give what you don’t have. If you are enthusiastic about life, you indirectly take care of relationships and become a hallmark of dedication and fidelity.

19. Pre-enactment of reality

A journey always seems longer when you are going for the first time or when you don’t know where you are going.

But if you were told of landmarks and sites along the way, you have more confidence.

If you were told that you will see a petrol station along the way, your mind creates a picture and when you pass the station, you feel assured that you are still on course.

Life is a journey that none of us has been before but when a man has a positive mindset he already has a picture of what his reality is going to be.

His mind has already made landmarks and sites for him. So as you journey through life, you should have that confidence that it is going to be alright. And as you see some of these landmarks, you will have more assurance of where you are headed.

Read: How to ask questions the smart way

20. Mental acuteness

Mental acuteness is an attribute of people with an enthusiastic attitude.

They have sharper minds because their thinking is wired to solve problems, see ways out of dicey situations and even create new realities.

A negative mindset is however dull. It sees gloom everywhere and becomes lazy because the mind is used to seeing the positive things in negative things.

Finally, I encourage you to start developing a positive psyche and stance and you will find yourself performing better in everything you lay your hands on. So, what situation has brought out positivity in you in recent times?