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We have all received the well-meaning advice to "stay positive" the greater the challenge we experience the more the glass-half-full wisdom can come across. Its hard to find motivation to focus on the positive, when positivity seems like nothing more than wishful thinking.
The real obstacle to positivity is that our brains are hard wired to look and focus on threats. There is a constant war going on in our minds. This is a survival mechanism which has served humankind well back when we were hunters and gathers, living each day with very real threat in our immediate surroundings.
Today this mechanism creates pessimism and negativity as the mind has a tendency to wander until it finds a threat, these can magnify the likelihood that things are going- and/or are going to go poorly. When the threat is imagined you may spend two months convinced that the project your working on will be a flop, and this mechanism leaves you with a soured view of reality that wreaks havoc in your life. Pessimism is trouble as it's bad for your health, numerous studies have shown that optimists are physically and psychologically healthier than pessimists.
Maintaining positivity is a daily challenge that requires focus and attention, you must be intentional about staying positive to overcome the brains tendency to focus on threats. In other words, your life will always lead you in the direction of your strongest thoughts.
Your probably thinking, this all sounds good, however this won't work for me, I am just not like this, other people don't have the challenges and problems I have in my life, and your are probably right, challenges in our external environment are different for us all and we all react in different ways.
What we do know is that Mental health has had a significant rise since the pandemic, causing feelings or fear, depression, anxiety, worry, worthlessness and hopelessness. These feelings cause obstacles to us living a fulfilling life that we were created to have, and you can feel trapped in emotional havoc.
We know positivity isn't just good for your health, there is a connection between positivity and performance. The question is how do we get there and stay in the positive mind-set?
We have to reframe our thought patterns and this has to be a constant daily commitment by feeding our brains, this then motivates us to want to do positive things and cope better with lives challenges. Its a bit like if you ate a MacDonald's every day, it may be enjoyable at the time, however in the long term this would have health implications, as this is a junk food. It is the same with your brain, if you feed it with junk, over time this will direct your thoughts into a negative mind-set.
Remember that someone else may be able to do your job, however no one else can be you. You are unique and your life has value and purpose that's why you are here. We often define ourselves by what others have said or thought about us, past experiences and hurts and we carry these into our future.
What you think today will determine your tomorrows.
These things do not not shape the totality of who you have been called to be, only you have the right and the authority to tell you who you are.
You are not defined by your past
You are not defined by your behaviour
You are not defined by your failures
You are not defined by your struggles
You are not defined by your circumstances
You are not defined by the here today false ideologies
You are who who you were created to be.
Find your own purpose in life and never compare with others, as you can't live their life only your own, and things always look better on the outside, but the inside is generally a a different story.
Positivity isn't just good for your health, there is a connection between positivity and performance. We are not looking for perfection as this does not exist, or we don't want to just survive. External circumstances will always throw challenges at us and many are out of our control, what we must not do is allow these to define us, yes we make mistake and get things wrong, but these do not have to define us, these are there to teach us to do things different and develop our resilience and ways to cope.
"Remember success people do consistently what others do occasionally",
How you think, can have the power to create new pathways and reframe you future, changes of habits take time to set take perseverance, link to our section on High impact habits.
Watch the video to use as a reference point for discussion:
What encourages you from this video?
What strikes you about the impact out thinking has?
How would you know the difference between normal emotional reaction to the storms in life, compared with psychological and clinical distress?
Have you experienced or been close to someone diagnosed with a mental health condition?
Practically, how can you sustain hope when things look like they'll never improve/change?
It may be that you need professional support to identify the mental health issues you are experiencing.
Mental Health facts and Stats:
If you are feeling overwhelmed and experiencing negative thoughts and require support, please do speak to the college student support team, they can refer you to external support.
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