Showing posts with label to read. Show all posts
Showing posts with label to read. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
How Learning to Be Positive Saved My Life
Easy ways you can become more positive:
Gratitude. Start a gratitude journal in order to focus on the positive. List five things per day in which you are grateful. Getting into this daily habit forces you to appreciate more out of your life, and subsequently conditions your thinking to be on the look out for the positive. You will begin to start looking for things that will go on your daily list, and expecting them to show up. Even if some days you can only think of the basics such as, enough food to eat, a comfortable bed, or the sun shining, no matter how bad a day is you can always be grateful. I remember when my mom told me a story about how her car broke down and she was stranded for three hours in the rain, waiting for AAA to pick her up. When she told my brother about her awful day, he (the eternal optimist) replied, “At least you have a car to break down!”
Affirmations. Begin repeating affirmations. Many of these still amuse me with their annoying level of optimism, or cheesy phrasing. But, they work. Telling yourself such extreme phrases of positive thought teaches your brain to reprogram your thinking to highlight the good in life. Louise Hay is the master of positive affirmations. Simply adding one or two to your wall or bathroom mirror can shift your thinking. Google “positive affirmations”, and there are tons of sites out there that give you a new, daily positive affirmation. Finding ones that go with aspects of your life that you are struggling with also help tremendously. I have found that they can ease anxiety, even if I don’t believe the affirmation 100%. You can’t think two thoughts at once. Only one thought can go through your head at a time (though it may be at lightening speed!)… so while you are saying a positive affirmation to yourself, the thoughts of negativity or anxiety are incapable of existing at the same time. That is the beauty of positive affirmations
Surround yourself with positive people. Keep the naysayers at a distance. We all have people in our lives that seem to always find something to complain about. It’s never their fault, and they always get the worst hand dealt to them. Whether they are family or friends, keep them at a distance. Once you begin to recognize negative thought, you instantly raise your awareness of how negative the people are around you. Your tolerance level for others being negative in your life instantly goes down as soon as your awareness of it goes up. You DESERVE to be happy, and it takes effort to surround yourself with others that are happy. Being happy takes effort, as does depression, but it is the most worthwhile endeavor.
Live in the present. So many people preach this recently… but what does it really mean?? It means don’t expect negativity. Don’t think about some future event and assume a negative outcome. Yesterday, my mom was talking about moving and said to me “If that garage isn’t cleaned out and organized before the move, I will have major stress!!”. Don’t assume that a situation will cause anxiety or stress, otherwise you will absolutely make it a self fulfilling prophecy. Even if you have to force it at first, tell your self it will go smoothly and easily. Don’t look back on past negative events and assume that it is the way a future even will end up. Stay in the now, for this present moment is all we have. Today is all there is. Assume good things will result.
Choose to be positive. I did. Life is so good, you just have to let yourself be able to realize it.
http://dreaminthelife.com/2009/06/hello-world/
Gratitude. Start a gratitude journal in order to focus on the positive. List five things per day in which you are grateful. Getting into this daily habit forces you to appreciate more out of your life, and subsequently conditions your thinking to be on the look out for the positive. You will begin to start looking for things that will go on your daily list, and expecting them to show up. Even if some days you can only think of the basics such as, enough food to eat, a comfortable bed, or the sun shining, no matter how bad a day is you can always be grateful. I remember when my mom told me a story about how her car broke down and she was stranded for three hours in the rain, waiting for AAA to pick her up. When she told my brother about her awful day, he (the eternal optimist) replied, “At least you have a car to break down!”
Affirmations. Begin repeating affirmations. Many of these still amuse me with their annoying level of optimism, or cheesy phrasing. But, they work. Telling yourself such extreme phrases of positive thought teaches your brain to reprogram your thinking to highlight the good in life. Louise Hay is the master of positive affirmations. Simply adding one or two to your wall or bathroom mirror can shift your thinking. Google “positive affirmations”, and there are tons of sites out there that give you a new, daily positive affirmation. Finding ones that go with aspects of your life that you are struggling with also help tremendously. I have found that they can ease anxiety, even if I don’t believe the affirmation 100%. You can’t think two thoughts at once. Only one thought can go through your head at a time (though it may be at lightening speed!)… so while you are saying a positive affirmation to yourself, the thoughts of negativity or anxiety are incapable of existing at the same time. That is the beauty of positive affirmations
Surround yourself with positive people. Keep the naysayers at a distance. We all have people in our lives that seem to always find something to complain about. It’s never their fault, and they always get the worst hand dealt to them. Whether they are family or friends, keep them at a distance. Once you begin to recognize negative thought, you instantly raise your awareness of how negative the people are around you. Your tolerance level for others being negative in your life instantly goes down as soon as your awareness of it goes up. You DESERVE to be happy, and it takes effort to surround yourself with others that are happy. Being happy takes effort, as does depression, but it is the most worthwhile endeavor.
Live in the present. So many people preach this recently… but what does it really mean?? It means don’t expect negativity. Don’t think about some future event and assume a negative outcome. Yesterday, my mom was talking about moving and said to me “If that garage isn’t cleaned out and organized before the move, I will have major stress!!”. Don’t assume that a situation will cause anxiety or stress, otherwise you will absolutely make it a self fulfilling prophecy. Even if you have to force it at first, tell your self it will go smoothly and easily. Don’t look back on past negative events and assume that it is the way a future even will end up. Stay in the now, for this present moment is all we have. Today is all there is. Assume good things will result.
Choose to be positive. I did. Life is so good, you just have to let yourself be able to realize it.
http://dreaminthelife.com/2009/06/hello-world/
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Smile! 5 Reasons It Will Make You Happy
Smile first = be happy later!
Here are 5 reasons to smile:
1. Smiling reduces stress.
Psychological Science, one of the top 10 psychology journals worldwide, recently printed a study out of the University of Kansas showing that smiling, even under stress, actually reduces stress and helps us feel better.
“Peace begins with a smile.” — Mother Teresa
2. Smiling improves how you feel.
Ron Gutman, author of Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act writes, “Lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine; increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphin; and reduce overall blood pressure.”
“Just smiling goes a long way toward making you feel better about life. And when you feel better about life, your life is better.” —Art Linkletter
3. Smiling spreads joy, it is socially contagious.
The smile contagion has been studied since the 1980s and has been proven a number of times. A 1984 article in the journal Science showed that people mimic emotional expressions. We often read about the negative impact of social contagions but here is an easy way to make a positive difference.
Smiling at others inspires them to mimic your behavior and smile back at you. Try it at the grocery store. And remember, as Shinichi Suzuki explains, “Children learn to smile from their parents.” We have a responsibility to teach smiling first and foremost in our homes.
“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower…, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.” — Leo Buscaglia
4. Smiling increases likability.
Psychologist Albert Mehrabian’s likability formula includes this fun fact: “Body language contributes more than 50 percent to our overall likability.” Your facial expression while talking is actually more important than the words you speak. At the very least, the two should be in alignment.
As Maya Angelous puts it, “People will forget what you said but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment relates that smiling is the very first thing you can do to get people to like you. In relationships and in business, people want to spend time with those they like. Smiling makes us more likable.
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” —Thich Nhat Hanh
5. Smiling builds relationships.
Smiling connects us with others. Our humanness interprets smiling as a gesture of trustworthiness and friendliness. Science tells us it makes us more approachable.
"Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." — Leo F. Buscaglia
Sometimes, the answers are easy. Smiling is one of those simple things you can do to impact your quality of life and the lives of those around you. Why not make things better for one another? And according to research in Psychological Science, even reading this article today with words like smile, grin, laugh can improve the way we feel, because it activates our facial muscles.
Are you smiling right now?
Try it for a week: smile even if you don’t have a reason.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7693/smile-5-reasons-it-will-make-you-happy.html
Here are 5 reasons to smile:
1. Smiling reduces stress.
Psychological Science, one of the top 10 psychology journals worldwide, recently printed a study out of the University of Kansas showing that smiling, even under stress, actually reduces stress and helps us feel better.
“Peace begins with a smile.” — Mother Teresa
2. Smiling improves how you feel.
Ron Gutman, author of Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act writes, “Lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine; increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphin; and reduce overall blood pressure.”
“Just smiling goes a long way toward making you feel better about life. And when you feel better about life, your life is better.” —Art Linkletter
3. Smiling spreads joy, it is socially contagious.
The smile contagion has been studied since the 1980s and has been proven a number of times. A 1984 article in the journal Science showed that people mimic emotional expressions. We often read about the negative impact of social contagions but here is an easy way to make a positive difference.
Smiling at others inspires them to mimic your behavior and smile back at you. Try it at the grocery store. And remember, as Shinichi Suzuki explains, “Children learn to smile from their parents.” We have a responsibility to teach smiling first and foremost in our homes.
“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower…, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.” — Leo Buscaglia
4. Smiling increases likability.
Psychologist Albert Mehrabian’s likability formula includes this fun fact: “Body language contributes more than 50 percent to our overall likability.” Your facial expression while talking is actually more important than the words you speak. At the very least, the two should be in alignment.
As Maya Angelous puts it, “People will forget what you said but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment relates that smiling is the very first thing you can do to get people to like you. In relationships and in business, people want to spend time with those they like. Smiling makes us more likable.
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” —Thich Nhat Hanh
5. Smiling builds relationships.
Smiling connects us with others. Our humanness interprets smiling as a gesture of trustworthiness and friendliness. Science tells us it makes us more approachable.
"Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." — Leo F. Buscaglia
Sometimes, the answers are easy. Smiling is one of those simple things you can do to impact your quality of life and the lives of those around you. Why not make things better for one another? And according to research in Psychological Science, even reading this article today with words like smile, grin, laugh can improve the way we feel, because it activates our facial muscles.
Are you smiling right now?
Try it for a week: smile even if you don’t have a reason.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7693/smile-5-reasons-it-will-make-you-happy.html
Sunday, February 3, 2013
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