Positive Thinking – Myth or Magic?

Okay – here’s the thing.

Positive thinking and the whole power of the mind/body connection has been around for a really LONG time.

The modern day version took root back in the 1800s when some dude called Phineas Quimby started finding success alleviating people’s psychosomatic disorders (via hypnosis). Skip a whole heap of important stuff and fast forward to 1952 when The Power of Positive Thinking came out. And wham, bam – before you can say Tony Robbins, the whole world became convinced that being super-dooper positive was the magic bullet to eternal glory.

For all the skeptics out there – Yes, I hear you.

Thinking positive is not going to guarantee you get a parking spot. It is not going to make you immune from dating dickheads. And however upbeat and peachy positive you or I might try to be, if we get late-stage cancer or some other nasty disease, there is a strong possibility it might be the death of us.

That said, it is safe to say that seeing our glass half-full (or my preference – topped up completely*) has a whole host of proven, scientific benefits. And for today’s ‘class’ I am going to be deferring and quoting the pants off Dr. Daniel Amen – a double board-certified psychiatrist, professor and brain health expert.

He explains it thus;

‘Every time you have a thought, your brain releases chemicals. Every time you have a sad, hopeless, mad, cranky, unkind, judgmental, or helpless thought, your brain releases chemicals that make your body feel awful’. In addition to all the tense muscle, shallow breath stuff ‘the activity in your frontal and temporal lobes decreases which negatively affects your judgement, learning and memory.’

So, waking up and thinking how fat you are, whilst jealously seething what a vain cow Cindy is, and then deciding you might as well stay in bed because nothing good ever happens to you anyway = Bad.

Thankfully, the ‘opposite is also true – whenever you have a happy, hopeful, loving, kind or positive thought, your brain releases a completely different set of chemicals. Your hands get warmer and dryer, your breathing becomes deeper and more regular, your muscles relax, your blood pressure decreases, and your brain works better.’

Sounds like freaking magic to me.

But, if skipping around saying how GREAT you feel, constantly noticing how GLORIOUS the world around you is, and reflecting that today is going to be the BEST one EVER makes you cringe just a little bit….then maybe just start by eliminating the ANTs that could be act as triggers for your anxiety, panic, depression and mood disorders.

ANTs – Automatic Negative Thoughts.

Maybe some (all?) of these might sound familiar…… and P.S. this is all in Dr. D’s words.

Fortune Telling: This is the ANT of almost anyone who has a panic disorder. They are masterful at predicting the worst, even though they don’t have any evidence.

Mind Reading: Where you arbitrarily believe that you know what someone else is thinking, even though they didn’t tell you….. It’s a major reason why people have trouble in relationships.

Guilt Beatings: Thinking with words like should, must, ought and have to. Guilt is not a very good motivator for change. Telling yourself “I should go see my grandmother” rather than “I want to spend time with my grandmother” only serves to make you feel negative.

Blame: Whenever you blame someone else for the problems in your life, you are a victim and you can’t do anything to change it. Many of us play the blame game, but it rarely helps us….take personal responsibility for changing the problems you have.

Labelling: Calling yourself or someone else a derogatory name. This diminishes your ability to see situations clearly and labels are very harmful.

And look, I know – you’re busy and you have a lot of shows to catch up on. But, maybe just see which of these ANTs resonate with you MOST and just start with that one.

Because the first step to changing the way we think my friend, is noticing what needs to be changed.

This GET HAPPIER post is brought to you by someone who wants to remind you that life is like underwear – Change is good 😉

*Sadly Dr.Amen does not advocate regular drinking and his studies on brain scans show it has a fairly rubbish effect on our brains. Cheers (or not) for that sobering info Dan.