There is one thing we always have to keep clear within our minds and that is that none of us knows what the future brings and however hard we try; this will never change. But there are lots of things we can do to point us in a good direction and one of these is being positive.
This is not about trying to reassure ourselves with mantras of ‘It will be ok’, it’s about having a strong mindset to see the positive way forward first. I learnt these lessons nearly 40 years ago now when I first started looking at the power of our mind, with people like Tony Robins, an iconic motivational speaker of my day. The time I spent as a teenager looking at the power of a positive mind and applying these to my life, was one of the reasons that I chose to start my journey in learning and studying hypnotherapy and psychology. After a few years of studying, I chose to change my career and become a clinical hypnotherapist, which was nearly 27 years ago now. At that time, it was not widely used at all, lots of my family and friends thought it was a poor career choice. But hypnotherapy at that time had already had such a massive impact on my mental health and I just couldn’t not share this with everyone who needed a new way of helping themselves to change. I must say that I am blessed I love my work and couldn’t be happier to be able to help people change how they feel and deal with life in such a profound way.
Now I am not saying that we should all chase every dream that comes our way, but it is about having this positive mindset, looking at options, listening to our gut and following our instinct that is the key in making choices in life. If we choose to live a more positive life, it will allow your mood to feel brighter, your mental health to be more stable and life will feel happier. There is lots to gain by choosing the power of positive thinking and nothing to lose in thinking this way, so why not make this your new year’s resolution?
Here’s a great way of seeing just how this will impact your mindset and your life – if you have ever been thinking about buying a new car or you know someone who has got a new car, you may have noticed these phenomena. You start to see that type of car everywhere, you pass them as you drive, you see them parked on the roadside, you see them in car parks and even while watching the tv. This is not for the fact there are more of these cars on the road, there is as many as there was before you started to notice them, what has changed is your perspective and focus on your world around you. This is due to the power of our amazing unconscious mind; our minds are always looking for new patterns that it can automate for you to make life easier. Many of the things we do are all automatic habits that we have formed over time and these allow us the pleasure of not having to learn and remember to do things consciously. This is such a life-changing thing for us a species, just imagine waking in the morning and not knowing how to move, walk or speak, to name just a few of the many hundreds of automated habits we have.
This is what is starting to happen when our minds pick up on the fact that we have been consciously looking for that particular type of car. Maybe we have been looking around car showrooms, or looked at adverts online, saved pictures, peered in cars we have seen like this in car parks. But maybe it someone else’s car that we have been waiting to see pull on the drive or watch drive away. All of these times of searching and looking has been forming a deeper habit within you. Of course, over time for many people, this will normalise as we get used to the new car and often we can start dreaming of the next dream car we want. This example is such a great way to see what will happen when you start to focus your mind positively. Your mind over time will start to help you automate this new positive way of thinking, which is more exciting to think about as well, imagine being an instant positive thinker. I often laugh with my sister over this as this is what she calls me, I always seem to look on the positive side of life, it’s a great habit to have, as being positive is a great support to our mood and overall mental health.
The first steps in doing this will need to be consciously chosen. Making any changes in life takes time and effort on our part, but that’s ok, just remember how great this will be when your mind over time, will start searching out all these positive options for you. Being positive and having a positive mindset is a learned and developed habit, so let’s work together to help you create a new way of looking at life. Let’s start with creating affirmations as these are great things for us to able to keep our minds focused on positive things. With affirmations we need to take time to read them a few times a day, the best way is to make a habit where maybe you put it on a post-it-note, on your bathroom mirror to remind you whenever you go into the bathroom to repeat the affirmation a few times. If you want to enhance this then say it out loud, this will feel weird at first but over time you will get used to it. Maybe you can start a positive journal and, in the mornings, and at night you read your affirmations and write down the positive things you have experienced that day. You could leave it on your car steering wheel or make an alert on your phone, there is no right or wrong way, only your way, so find the way that suits you. Start with a simple one like “I am positive, and I see positive things around me”, again that might not be right for you, so choose the wording that suits you.
Never forget, practice makes perfect, so don’t expect a miracle but just like going to the gym, after a few weeks you can start to see the difference. Your mind is a muscle and it needs to be exercised to feel this way and time is the key. Next week I will be looking at more ways to help make you more positive.
Thanks for dropping by Sara x
HYPNOSARA 