Self Improvement Basics

I am going to ask you to something very weird right now. First of all, I want you to listen to your thoughts. Now tell me, what thoughts fill your head? Would you label them as positive, or negative?

Now let’s say you are walking down the street with these thoughts. Do you think anyone who would meet you would be able to tell you what’s on your mind?

The answer to number one is up to you. But, the answer number two can be pretty generic. Although people will not be able to tell you exactly what you think, they will more or less have an idea of how you are feeling.

Here’s another question. When you enter a party filled with friends, do they all fall silent as if something terrible has happened? Or does everybody in the room perk up as if they are waiting for something exciting to happen?

You know what? The answer to all these depends on your frame of mind - your attitude.

Thoughts are extremely powerful. They affect your general attitude, and the attitude you carry reflects on your appearance too – unless, of course, you are a great actor.

And it doesn’t end there. Your attitude can also affect the people around you. The type of attitude you carry depends on you. It can be either positive or negative and only you can choose which one you would like to have.

Positive thoughts have a filling effect. They are admittedly invigorating. Plus, the people around the person carrying positive thoughts are usually energized by this type of attitude.

Negative thoughts on the other hand have a sapping effect on other people. Aside from making you look gloomy and sad, negative thoughts can turn a festive gathering into a funeral wake! I remember in my old sales job. I used to sell gas and electricity door-to-door.

Our day used to start by going out in teams of 4-8 to various neighbourhoods, before splitting up to work individually. Every few hours we would all meet up to discuss our progress - and any positives and negatives we were experiencing. Our boss used to tell us every day to distance ourselves from anyone in our ‘team’ who was having a negative day, or was showing signs of a negative attitude.

The reason he made this such an important issue was simple; any negativity in this job would spread throughout the team. Simply put, negative people do not sell. For a person to buy something, they need to like the sales person, and trust them. It’s very hard to like a negative person, let alone become excited enough about the product to make a purchase (or, in this case, change energy supplier). One negative person could easily spread this attitude throughout the group - and destroy everybody’s chances of ‘making a sale’.

This translates easily into everyday life. A positive attitude attracts people, while a negative attitude repels them. People tend to shy away from those who carry a negative attitude.

We can also define attitude as a way of looking at the world. If you choose to focus on the negative things in the world, more or less you have a negative attitude brewing up. However, if you choose to focus on the positive things, you are more likely carry a positive attitude, and enjoy life as a result.

You have much to gain from a very positive attitude. For one, studies have shown that a positive attitude promotes better health. Those with this kind of attitude also have more friends. Being positive also helps you to handle stress and problems better than those who have a negative attitude.

A positive attitude begins with a healthy self-image. If you love the way you are and are satisfied, confident, and self-assured, you also make others around feel the same way. Going back to the sales job scenario, by sounding confident in yourself and the product you are selling you install confidence in the prospective customer too - and they are much more likely to buy from you.

A negative attitude, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. So, carrying a negative attitude has a twofold drawback. You feel bad about yourself, and you make others feel the same way.

If you want to have a positive attitude, you have to focus on healthy thoughts. In these modern times it’s harder than ever to do this, as all around us the media feeds us nothing but negative thoughts. A recent study shows that for every 14 things a parent says to his or her child, only 1 is positive. This is a truly saddening statistic.

If you want a healthier outlook on life, you need to think happy thoughts, and you have to hear positive things as well. So, what can you do? Well, for starters, you could see a funny movie, you could play with children, spend some time telling jokes with friends. All these activities fill you with positive stimuli, which in turn promotes positive attitude.

Although it is impossible to keep ourselves from the negative things around us, you can still carry a positive attitude by focusing on the good things, the positive things in life.

This positive attitude you now carry can be of benefit to other people. Sometimes when other people feel down, the thing people mostly do is try to give them advice. But sometimes, all they need is somebody to sit by them, and listen to them. If you have a positive attitude you may be able to cheer them up without even having to say anything.

If a positive attitude is really so great, why do people choose to adopt a negative attitude instead? One who carries a negative attitude may be actually sending a signal for attention. Don’t misunderstand me, feeling sad, angry, or gloomy is not wrong in itself. But dwelling on these thoughts for too long is not healthy either. There is a time to mourn.

As always, if you are beset by troubles, even in your darkest hour, focus on the good things in life, you will always have hope. Problems become something you can overcome, and life seems so much better.

You do not have much to lose by adopting a healthy, positive attitude. Studies show that such an attitude actually slows down the ageing process, makes you healthier, helps you develop a better stress coping mechanism, and has a very positive effect on all the people you meet every day. So, what’s not to like about a positive attitude? Adopt one today.