Continuing on from this theme of positive thinking, I spent a few hours researching this field and trying to find out what medical research has to say about it.  To cut a long story short I found the name of, probably, the leading expert in this area.  His name is Martin. E. Seligman.  I personally have never heard of him up until now, but I found a website with all of his various papers and it looks very extensive.  Click here:

I have not had time since to explore all of his papers, but I did buy his book which has had many good reviews.  It is the picture above and the book is called; ‘Learned Optimism’.  I am going to read this book and once finished, review it. 

One thought I have had recently and have had many times, especially when it comes to the argument of eating healthy, is the importance of combining positive thinking with eating well.  I believe nutritionists do not give this area of combining positive thinking and eating healthy enough credit or attention.  This is not an attack against nutritionists, far from it.  A lot of medical practitioners leave the mental state of health on the shelf sometimes, for which I too find myself guilty of sometimes.

I am convinced that there is at least a 50/50 balance between the effects of eating healthy and the effects of being positive about what you eat and the possible failings along the way.  I do not have any proof for this and it is just my opinion, but for example, if I ate a healthy salad for lunch and resisted all the urges to have a cake or eat chocolate, then I am naturally going to be pleased with myself.  This pleasure or satisfaction produces endorphins in our brain that numbs pain and reduces stress.  Of course eating the salad and limiting the excess sugar or processed foods will create and provide the body with a fuller nutritional supply.  Therefore the combined effort of eating health, but also thinking positively is optimal.  This piece on endorphins was very interesting:

Further to this is the consequence of negative thinking, which I believe is extremely powerful.  Say I eat that same salad, but I instead decide to eat the cake afterwards for whatever reason.  The guilt and sense of failure is really strong, especially if you are self conscious about your body and believe eating healthy is the answer to getting a better image.  So you have failed on this particular meal time, but the consequence of it lasts way beyond that actual meal.  I believe so strongly that guilt and self-loathing is detrimental to a person’s inner well being.  The internal stress that guilt and condemnation produces, I think, is on a similar level to a physical trauma.  People don’t associate these feelings as an internal stress.  The word stress is often over used and it is unfortunate because there are actually many different types of stress and negative thinking is amongst the strongest stresses you can put your body through.  Again this is just my belief.

If is so important to learn to indentify feelings or even thoughts of failure, worthlessness, insecurity, stupidness, weakness and guilt.  There are many more here I haven’t mentioned, like anxiety or anger, but I want to just concentrate on the thoughts of self.  Once an ability to highlight them is created then the battle to change can really begin.  It is the process of recognizing these thoughts/emotions and not letting them take root, but rather turn 180 degrees around and say the opposite to what you are thinking/feeling.  One day you fail at something or in the past your parents/teachers have told you will never make it, that you will always fail.  It is taking that thought, however many times in arises during the day, and then saying;

“I am not a failure, I can do this”. 

“I am not a waste of space, I am somebody important”.

When we can take these steps; change to the positive is inevitable and I am convinced anybody can achieve these goals in whatever their struggle.  It is important to remember at this point that we will fail at times to keep remembering the steps or may find it extremely exhausting to keep reminding ourselves to work on this process, but it is utterly essential to not beat yourself up and allow guilt to destroy the progress of your work.  Stumbling and getting it wrong is always a part of learning a new thing, like walking as a baby.  Just don’t be hard on yourself, give yourself a little grace.  It is also vitally important to remember that, sometimes, when you have turned 180 degrees around and declared the positive, nothing seems to have changed.  No new emotions can be perceived.  This at times can be very de-motivating, but it is part of the process.  So just keep going.

Positive thinking in this way reduces stress in our lives and it is well known through research that optimistic, ‘happy’ people are healthier and achieve more in life.  They also recover better from injuries and health problems – which makes my job easier.

You can do it.

I was treating a patient the other day when he started talking about a conference he had attended.  The speaker was talking about the power of the mind and positive thinking.  I have heard this kind of talk before and personally, I give it lot of credit.  However I have never really put it into proper action.  I’ve tried in the past once or twice, to rise out of bed and say things like:

“This day is mine” or “I will be successful in everything I do today” or “today is a new day and I am alive”. 

Although I had good intentions behind these thoughts they never really stuck and looking back I am beginning to wonder why.  Perhaps it was simply because I wasn’t ready or I lacked understanding.

Anyway this leads me to my point.  Speaking with this patient and hearing his excitement about what he had heard really struck a chord within me.  I was constantly thinking about this subject over the days that followed.  I became conscious of all the negative thoughts I had and how often I said things like:

“Not now because I have worked hard all day and I deserve a break” or “I’m too tired to do that task now.”

These were really common responses.  I also noticed how much I was complaining, and complaining about the most pointless of things, the weather being the most popular.  Then yesterday happened and I was amazed. 

I’ve had a pretty busy week in general, but more a case of lacking much needed sleep. Yesterday I woke up at 05.30, was at work all day and just felt chronically tired.  At least every hour I kept saying to myself, “I’m too tired to do that task, I deserve a power nap”.  But every time these thoughts arose I squashed them and prevented them from dominating my thoughts.  Therefore the thoughts didn’t lead to any actions.  Further to this, I purposely did the opposite to these thoughts.  If there was a task I didn’t want to do because I felt I deserved a power nap, I made sure I did that task straight away, there and then.  Arriving home around 19:00 in the evening I was still very tired.  By this point I had convinced myself that an evening off was well deserved.  When I finished my dinner I suddenly realized I had some jobs that needed doing that evening.  I huge groan escaped my lips, but I remembered the positive thinking.  So rather than looking over all the tasks I had to do that evening and the pleasures I had to sacrifice as a result, I just went straight into the first task.  While completing the first task my mind desperately wanted to complain and grumble.  It desperately tried to list all the jobs I had to do to highlight to my own self, that the tasks all together were too big a mountain to climb and to just give up.  When I write this I am merely explaining what was happening inside my head.  I’m not trying to have a pity party because there are a lot of people that have it harder than I did yesterday.  My objective here is to highlight the power of positive thinking.

So the first task quickly became the second task and in no time at all I was onto the third, then the fourth and within 2 hours I had finished the tasks that needed to be done.  By the end of this I was feeling very positive, but I was still trying to justify to myself, I deserved a break.  But I stopped at this point and decided to continue doing tasks, to test this positive thinking mindset (does it make a big difference?).  So I sat down at my computer and did a job I have been putting off for months, a job that was not essential and could have waited for another day or so.  So I sat at my computer until 22.30, completing the task and feeling extremely satisfied with myself.

By the time I got into bed I was actually brimming with energy, even though deep down in my body I knew I was actually very tired.  The point here is, I was not denying I was tired, I admitted it.  But I did not dwell on it or allow it to dictate my actions.  By staying positive I gained energy by doing tasks that should have drained me because my mind said they were extremely difficult to do right there and then.

So to summarize:

What happened yesterday was border line remarkable, for me.  I would actually say it was a ‘light bulb’ moment.  Clarity descended and I had a revelation about how truly powerful this positive thinking is.  This is something I will continue to monitor and blog about in the future. 

If this is new to you, how about starting with these ideas.  Highlight in your mind every time you complain about something and why.  Then try and do the opposite to what a negative thought suggests for you to do.  For example; you need to write a letter/email to a friend, but you are too tired.  Instead of agreeing with that thought, say “NO” and then go straight to writing that letter.  The chances are you have the means to do it right there and then otherwise you wouldn’t have thought about it.  Don’t put it on your ‘to do’ list.  There is a difference here between thinking about tasks that need to be done when you are on the move, to your thoughts telling you not to do something now because you are this or that.

When you become better at noticing negativity, you will naturally become better equipped at fighting it with positivity.  Don’t beat yourself up if you fail or notice you complain a lot.  We all do it.

Final note:

If you think about all your friends and the friend that makes you feel the most motivated or alive or free.  The chances are that person is a very positive person, that they believe in themselves and have more confidence.  Positive thinking leads to so many different attitudes, believing you can achieve something or being confident in yourself, are some examples.