Health Benefits of Positive Thinking and Self Talk

Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach the unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. That is, think the best is going to happen rather than the worst.

Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head every day. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information.

The Health Benefits of Positive Thinking:

• Increased life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower levels of distress
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• Better coping skills during hardships and timesof stress

It’s unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. It’s also thought that positive and optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and don’t smoke or drink alcohol in excess.

Here are some distorted thinking styles
Filtering – looking at the world through dark blue glasses. This is where we take and magnify all the negative details, while filtering out all the positive aspects of a situation.

Over-generalisation – this happens when we come to a general conclusion, based on a single piece of evidence. We may say things to our children, when they do something we don’t agree with, like ‘you terrible child, you never do the right thing’.

Catastrophising – this is sometimes called ‘expecting the worst’. You expect disaster, and talk yourself into it. It is often referred to as the ‘What if?’ syndrome- ‘What if I fail?’ ‘What if my child gets sick?’ ‘What if I don’t get the job?’ ‘What if she doesn’t like me?’.

Emotional Reasoning – this is when you believe what you feel must be true. If you feel silly and boring, then you must be silly and boring.

Being right – this is when we act as if we are always on trial to prove that what we say and do is correct. We become extremely defensive to prove we were not wrong.

Blaming – here, you hold other people responsible for the pain and unhappiness that you are feeling – ‘It’s your fault, you make me feel angry’. Or you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong- ‘I’m hopeless’.

Polarising – you see things only as either good or bad, black or white. There is no middle ground. You feel that you have to be perfect or that you’re a total failure.

Shoulds and Musts – sometimes we use ‘shoulds’ and ‘musts’ as if there is some universal law to back them up – ‘You should do the right thing by me’, ‘I must always have things the way I like them’.

Martyr syndrome – this is when you expect all you sacrifice and self-denial to pay off. You get awfully bitter when the reward doesn’t come.

Here are some ways to think and behave in a more positive and optimistic way:
Identify areas to change. If you want to become more optimistic and engage in more positive thinking, first identify areas of your life that you typically think negatively about, whether it’s work, your daily commute or a relationship, for example. You can start small by focusing on one area to approach in a more positive way.

Check yourself. Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what you’re thinking. If you find that your thoughts are mainly negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them.

Be open to humour. Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humour in everyday happenings. When you can laugh at life, you feel less stressed.

Follow a healthy lifestyle. Exercise at least three times a week to positively affect mood and reduce stress. Follow a healthy diet to fuel your mind and body. And learn to manage stress.

Surround yourself with positive people. Make sure those in your life are positive, supportive people you can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback. Negative people may increase your stress level and make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways.

Practice positive self-talk. Start by following one simple rule: Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to anyone else. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about you.

Practicing positive thinking every day
You can learn to turn negative thinking into positive thinking. The process is simple, but it does take time and practice — you’re creating a new habit, after all.

Flexible – you see other points of view, getting as many facts as possible, and you have a willingness to learn.

Adaptable – you have an ability and willingness to change if need be, rather than being defensive and blocking off new ideas.

Rational – you keep things in perspective. There are no ‘shoulds’ or ‘musts’.

Positive – ‘I can. . . I am able to. . . How do i? . . . I want to resolve this’.

Solution-orientated – you ask how can we both get what we want. You have a win-win attitude. You are problem solving without being oppositional, or blaming or indulging in the ‘poor me’ syndrome.

If you tend to have a negative outlook, don’t expect to become an optimist overnight. But with practice, eventually your self-talk will contain less self-criticism and more self-acceptance. You may also become less critical of the world around you.

When your state of mind is generally optimistic, you are able to handle everyday stressors in a more constructive way. That ability may contribute to the widely observed health benefits of positive thinking.

Resources:
Website:
06 October 2011, be https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950

Books:
Power Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale (1996)
The Road Less Travelled, 25th Anniversary Edition : A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck (2003)
Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl (1946)

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