The Power of Positive Thinking: How to Train Your Brain to Be More Optimistic

We all can influence our brains and change the way we think. And with practice, you can make your brain more positive. But how do you do this? You might be surprised to learn that it’s much easier than you think!

Photo by FORMAT arw on Unsplash

Here are my top five tips for making positive thinking a habit:

1. Be aware of your automatic thoughts and feelings

Before changing your thinking, you must first become aware of it. This means you must learn to observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment. The key is not to judge yourself for having negative thoughts or judge the validity of these thoughts. Instead, just let them come up without reacting emotionally or mentally.

In other words, don’t try to ignore your negative thoughts — that’s impossible! Instead, focus on observing them from an objective point of view: what are they? What do they look like? Where do they go when I’m not looking at them? How do they feel in my body? What specific images pop into my mind when I think about “failure” or “social anxiety?” Once you’ve identified the thought patterns that may be holding you back (like fear of failure), it’s easier to address them directly with positive counter-thoughts that will help build confidence instead of tearing down…