The key to a happier life: positive thoughts

Every day thousands of thoughts go through your head. Some are negative and some are positive, depending on your personality and outlook on life. In pessimistic people, up to 80 percent of these thoughts are negative—in other words, they’re associated with things like fear, anxiety, hate, depression, and worry. And, unsurprisingly, this makes them unhappy most of the time. In some people, on the other hand, these thoughts are mostly positive, and it is easy to see by the expression on their faces that they are relatively happy. That is not to say that they never have problems and are happy most of the time. Everyone has problems, but optimistic people know how to handle them and don’t let negativity rule their lives. And as a result, they live much happier lives. So the key to living a longer and happier life is to control your thoughts.

Happy and optimistic people are not immune to negative thoughts. As with almost everyone, they continually come up and try to push their way in and push out happy thoughts, but optimistic people make it as hard as possible for them to get in. If you want to be happier, you have to learn to deal with negative thoughts, and as I’m sure you know, they come in many forms. Fear of losing your job, fear of getting sick or getting a serious illness, depression because life is so boring, anxiety because you can’t seem to do anything, anxiety because you’re getting old, an old grievance against someone you once liked , are just a few examples of negative thoughts. Insist on them too long and soon you will feel miserable and may end up sick. And of course nobody really wants that.

The key to a longer, healthier and happier life is to get rid of these thoughts. You can do it for a short time by leaving your mind blank, in other words, not thinking about anything. This will help, but it won’t work for long. Thoughts of some kind will soon appear to fill the void, and if you’re not careful, some, even most, will turn negative again. What you have to do as quickly as possible is to fill your mind with positive thoughts. To do this, you must have a stock of them ready. To do this you must start by thinking about all the good things in your life. write them down Some examples are:

• Your goals. Make sure you have some. They are particularly important for success in life. If you’ve never made a list, do it now.
• Your family. In particular, your spouse and children, but brothers and sister are also important.
• Your Health. This may be something that is driving your negative thoughts, but remember that it could always be worse. Think how lucky you are that it’s as good as it is.
• Your friends. Think about their smiling faces and what they mean to you. This will always bring a smile to your face.
• All the things you have. Some examples are; a car, a beautiful house, a beautiful garden, pets and many other things
• Your talents and abilities. Think about how lucky you are to have some of the talents and abilities that you do. Everyone has things that few people have.
• Your youth (assuming you have it). This may not sound like much to you, but ask an 80-year-old how important he is and you might get scolded.
• How lucky you are, in general.

These are your defense against negative thoughts, so give them serious thought and memorize the list you make. Deposit them in your memory “bank”. Then, every time you have a negative thought, do a retreat. Bring one of these positive thoughts into your mind, and since it’s impossible to think of two things at once, it will crowd out any negative thoughts that may be there. This may seem like a lot of trouble to go to every time you have a negative thought, but if you practice it for a while, it will soon become second nature, and you won’t have to think about it, it will be automatic. And in the long run it will make you very happy.