Chapter 1: Why The Need To Embrace Positive Thinking
Before discussing how exactly to develop a positive mindset, it is essential to discuss its amazing benefits. Below are some benefits of how you stand to benefit by embracing positive thinking.
Freedom from Negative Thinking
Positive thinking liberates you and makes you free, but what precisely does it free you from? Well, by developing a positive mindset, you get freedom from all the negativity inhabiting your mind. Your negative thoughts corrupt your mind and gradually pollute your emotions, behavior, and attitude. Thoughts like How can I achieve that?, I am incapable of doing that, No, I am not good enough for this, I am a failure, What if something goes wrong and similar thoughts are negative thoughts because they instill fear in you and make you succumb to your fears. These negative thoughts prevent you from taking a step forward because they make you feel incapable of doing something. You surrender to them each time and never consider going against them. This is precisely why you stay stuck in your cocoon for life and are never able to live freely.
However, by learning to develop a positive mindset, you learn to battle the negative thoughts emerging inside you. The positive thinking helps you realize that your ill thoughts, feelings, and emotions are nothing, but a corruption of normal thoughts. There isnt anything you cannot do; it is just a matter of trying. With time, your positive mindset helps to liberate you from the negativity rooted inside you, making you strong enough to stand on your own and put an end to pessimism for once. As soon as you are able to shatter the negative mindset, you find out that life is indeed very beautiful and simple. Hence, the biggest benefit of a positive mindset is to provide you with complete freedom from negativity that stops you from chasing your dreams and goals.
Helps You See Possibilities in Life
In addition to freeing you from your negative thoughts, positive thinking helps you become free and liberated by helping you see the different possibilities in life. Research has proven that a negative mindset compels you to behave in a specified manner only. When you have a negative thought, this makes you frightened of a certain outcome and restricts you from taking any action against that outcome. Hence, you cannot go beyond that outcome and are never able to see the other side of the coin. Your mind is conditioned to see the dark and bleak side of things only.
On the other hand, by adopting a positive attitude and mindset, you are able to become more open to things. Instead of becoming restricted to doing a certain act, you start considering different ideas and are able to see various possibilities in life.
This fact was concluded by a research conducted by Barbara Fredrickson who is a psychology researcher working at the University of North Carolina. To test the influence of different positive emotions and feelings on the human brain, she invited some participants and divided them into five groups. The first and second groups were shown different clips showing positive emotions. The first group saw clips containing joy while the second one saw clips based on contentment. The third group was labeled as the control group and was shown neutral images. The fourth group saw images based on fear, while the fifth one saw images based on anger. Later on, every participant was requested to share their feelings regarding what they would have done in situations shown in the images. Participants of the first groups wrote several possibilities and actions, whereas the ones belonging to the neutral group wrote fewer possibilities and the ones from the fourth and fifth group jotted down only a couple of actions.
This clearly exhibits that positive emotions and thinking help you see different options in a situation to resolve it in the best possible manner, whereas a negative mindset limits your actions and thinking capabilities as well.
Builds Your Skills
Positive thinking empowers you by building your unique skill set. Each one of us is gifted in our own special way. Similarly, you too have some amazing hidden talents, but you are unaware of them. Why? Well, this is simply because you never explored them due to your negative mindset. This is why you are stuck in a terrible job or dependent on others for financial support because you do not bother finding out if you have an extraordinary talent.