Positive Thinking, Emotions And Health

Thinking is free, it doesn’t cost money, we all do it and we can do it, therefore, let’s use our thinking to make the most of our emotions. Negative thoughts generate a lot of anxiety, a lot of emotional discomfort and considerably alter the behavior of people in such a way that they disturb their experiences, rob us of well-being and harmony with themselves and with others, they can even cause serious psychosomatic disorders, but the worst sequel it is that they cause such a state of dissatisfaction, sadness, insecurity, anxiety and such a lack of vitality and such great physical and mental discomfort that life is gradually consuming itself, causing impotence, defenselessness, irritability against everything, disgust and inability to survive and maintain the illusion for life and for what surrounds us. In this Psychologyorg article, we will talk about positive thinking, emotions, behavior, and health.

Positive Thinking

On the contrary, positive thinking promotes positive emotions (joy, longing, happiness, illusion, physical well-being…), but also many behaviors aimed at gratification and problem-solving. It has been shown that those who enjoy these emotions increase their state of health. There is even talk of up to 10 years difference.

When the mood is gloomy, life, in general, is depressing for us, but if the mood improves, social relationships, hopes for the future, the enthusiasm for everything are much more active, rewarding, and positive.

We live in a society that increasingly asks us for more, that demands of us a titanic effort to increase material goods, social prestige, and everything that is presented to us as desirable but that ends with the person’s health. There is always someone to be compared to and we will always find someone who is above us and has more than us.

We are in a society where happiness is sought above all else and that is what we are sold: beaches, trips, cars, hotels, parties, drugs, sales, contests, expensive and cheap clothes, glamour… Many people think that if they had a lot of money, they would be immensely happy because they could buy happiness, but this is not the case because we find ourselves with high rates of depression, anxiety, or other pathologies.

Health

Health is the result of the balance between body and mind. For this reason, more and more importance is given to psychological aspects, both in health and, above all, in illness. People who feel happy and content are, for example, less vulnerable to developing heart disease, among others, compared to those who tend to be pessimistic, sad, or miserable. In addition, having a positive attitude towards life lengthens it and, in case of illness, helps strengthen the immune system. It is even an important factor in the recovery process from certain serious pathologies such as cancer.

Optimism is essential for health, pessimism as a life attitude causes a much more fragile physical health, greater depression, greater anxiety, greater physical and mental tension, and consequently a higher mortality rate. Numerous investigations demonstrate this.

Distress, that feeling of permanent overwhelm, of continuous emotional discomfort, produces very surprising changes in the functioning of the brain, our internal organs, and in the hormonal constellation. Through various studies, it has been possible to verify that a minute dedicated to a negative thought leaves the immune system, for a few hours, in a delicate situation due to the physical and emotional tension it causes.

If we stop to think about what kind of changes can be produced by excessive worry and anxiety, we see, for example, that it has the ability to damage memory and learning neurons located in the hippocampus. It also affects our intellectual capacity because it leaves those areas of the brain most necessary to make appropriate decisions without blood supply.

Now, do we have the resources to combat that internal enemy or is that only a matter of wise men? A valuable resource against worry is to focus attention on practicing eg. abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing, which alone has the ability to produce changes in the brain. It favors the secretion of hormones such as serotonin and endorphin, in addition to improving the harmony of brain rhythms between the two cerebral hemispheres.

Relationship between positive thinking and health

Recent research has shown the correlation between positive thinking and physical and mental health. Thought clearly influences our physical and mental state. A person with negative thoughts will feel depressed, and anxious, with low motivation and low self-esteem, they will be more prone to presenting lumbar and cervical disorders, and gastric and cardiological discomfort… A more positive attitude towards life improves the cardiovascular system and blood circulation, improves good humor as well as functional and cognitive capacity but above all improves health considerably.

Positive feelings play a very significant role “not only in the prevention of diseases but also in their projection since a more rapid recovery is achieved.” “People who promote positive emotions will have better prognoses, in the face of the same disease, than those who do not.”

A common response, such as anxiety in certain situations, is not only seen in facial expressions but also generates internal physiological changes, such as tachycardia, sweating, tremors, dry mouth, increased muscle tension, and tension pain… The disease will be reduced or increased depending on how we tell ourselves things and how we interpret the events and stressful circumstances of daily life, while lifestyle itself plays a very important role.

If the anxiety or stress response causes frequent, long-lasting, or intense physiological activation, the affected organs may not be able to recover and as a consequence, a physiological disorder may occur in several or in a single organ. The nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are closely related due to the multitude of anatomical and physiological pathways that interact with each other. 

For this reason, psychological factors can affect the prognosis of many diseases, through their influence on the immune system (psychoneuroimmunology). How a person faces and reacts to different anxiety-producing or stressful situations can be as important in establishing the prognosis of a disease as many of the medical parameters.

A positive thought is incompatible with a negative emotion or an unpleasant state of mind. Sometimes, even if the situations are negative, we can find healthier and more adaptive thoughts that can help us to take other alternatives into account, to see the solutions more effectively. , to feel a little better and with more inner strength.

It is not the first time that we have heard seriously ill patients comment on the following message: “Now is when I am really happy before I only thought about working, earning money, getting promoted, succeeding. 

However, now, with all my fears, I consider myself happy, it is now when I enjoy things that I did not value or take into account before, I live what I have to live, I do not deny my illness, nor do I try to ignore it, this illness has made me understand Unsuspected things about me, now the life around me excites me, my family, my partner, my children, my friends, those who come to see me, those who greet me, those who ask for me and spend time with me, all of them.

They accept me as I am, not because of my money, nor because of what I have achieved in life, but because of me as a person, because of my values, because of my sensitivity, because of my affection and affection towards them, for my gratitude, things that cost very little but that previously went unnoticed. Now despite my illness, I am really happy because I enjoy things that do not require any effort but are nevertheless so important to me.

How to think positive

Thinking is free Let’s learn to think! A positive thought has to deny the negative, continually confront it, and look for other alternatives that deny it, that contrast it, but above all that allow us to see reality from another point of view in order to be able to verify the results produced by the consequences generated by the choice. of other more rational, more adaptive, and more rewarding alternatives.

Positive thinking is something that can be learned. How many times do we visualize the same negative scenes over and over again, how many times do we repeat them to ourselves, tell ourselves in a thousand ways and all of them are worse, how many times do we anticipate the negative and recreate ourselves in pain, worry, fear, in anguish, in despair, in impotence… Have you ever wondered what would happen if we did the opposite? If we told ourselves the same stories over and over again but from a positive point of view and we recreated ourselves in it? There are two words that are magical: I CAN! and I WANT! I can do it, I want to do it, I just have to try.

There is no age for change, science has already shown it. Our brain has great plasticity, so if we think and feel that our age of maximum production and capacity has no limits and we act accordingly, our brain will grow because we will activate all the necessary mechanisms for it and we will activate new neural circuits and with they will increase our chances.

Faced with each problem, let’s relax, let’s think that we are capable of solving it, let’s eliminate inhibition and blockage, and act accordingly. Let’s repeat over and over again that we are going to do everything possible to solve it, that we are going to take other alternatives into account, that our efforts are not going to be in vain, that we are going to try… and the solution will come. Let’s not waste time or energy in regrets or in unproductive and ineffective things that are useless, let’s use that energy in providing solutions, mobilizing ourselves to resolve, and using all the resources at our disposal and the solution will come.

Positive thinking always causes delightful emotions and enormous physical and psychological benefits. Positive thinking brings out the best in us. Positive thinking promotes relaxation, self-esteem, and security, helps us to value and love ourselves, to feel proud of ourselves, and to recognize our worth, to increase the motivation to fight, to live, and to enjoy life. Our physical and psychological reactions, behaviors, and feelings depend on how we tell our own stories and how much credibility we give them.

Learning to generate positive thinking is learning to enhance skills and resources towards a better resolution of any problem, it is learning to stimulate and enhance hope, optimism, coping with adversity, motivation towards the achievement of objectives, emotional strengths, quality of life and ultimately increase our physical and mental health in such a way that it allows us to acquire a greater perception of cognitive, emotional, social, behavioral and physiological control, which will put us in the best position to transform and generalize reactions much more appropriate to any situation that requires greater adaptation and coping while stimulating personal transformation and better social adaptation.

Benefits of positive thinking

The benefits of positive thinking, in physical and psychological health, are incalculable because they provide:

• More relaxation (a relaxed organism is an organism that physically and psychologically works much better).
• More peace, serenity, balance, and harmony in our relationships with others and with ourselves.
• More positive dreams and greater optimism.
• Greater action and greater mobilization when it comes to solving any problem, no matter how difficult it may seem.
• Greater creativity and dynamism.
• Greater clarity and efficiency.
• Greater concentration.
• More respect towards ourselves and towards others.
• More illusions, more desire to enjoy, more desire to live, more desire to share the best moments of our lives…

Negative and positive emotions

We all know what we don’t want, and what we don’t like, but when they ask us about our qualities and virtues we hesitate, if they ask us about our defects or negative aspects of our lives we quickly answer, maybe not in the presence of other people but we tell ourselves continually. It is evident that we pay much more attention and much more time and energy to the negative aspects of life than to the positive aspects. Let’s change that attitude and turn around! Like any learning, it is a matter of effort, practice, and time dedicated to achieving it.

If one has a negative attitude towards life when real problems and difficulties appear, the person will not be in a position to assume them, let’s say that pessimism will act as a vulnerability factor.

Negative emotions lead to depression, anxiety, insecurity, and general malaise. Numerous investigations show how positive emotions facilitate the implementation of much more receptive, flexible, creative, and decisive thought patterns, in addition to favoring the issuance of novel and highly rewarding responses.

Optimism can also act as an enhancer of well-being and health in those people who, without presenting disorders, want to improve their quality of life. Humor “functions as an internal safety valve that permits us to overlook anxiety, dispel suspicions, relax, and overlook everything that can make us unhappy.”

We have the key to positive emotions, it is essential to look for situations that make us feel well-being, such as: dancing, walking, laughing, talking with friends, loving, and above all, using the most important key despite the situations “THINK WELL, OR THE BEST YOU CAN, THAT EVERYTHING IS LEARNED”, get rid of negative thoughts that only lead to harmful and harmful responses and emotions, all those emotions become entrenched and cause a lot of emotional damage.

When we continuously use negative words “This is terrible” “This is horrible” “I can’t take it anymore” “I’m not worth it” “It will surely happen to me again” and “Why to me”… from repeating them so much we end up believing them and turning them into truths absolute, feeling powerless and great emotional discomfort that generates extremely harmful and unpleasant emotions due to all these negative expressions that we tell ourselves so many times, allowing with this narrative that our brain works and responds, based on all this, as if really was true.

Repetition learning

The brain works by repetition. Repeat things over and over again. When something is especially important to him, our brain responds and produces an emotional, alert, and activation response. Whether good or bad, the brain repeats that same response over and over again to the same stimulus. For example, what goes through our heads when we hear that special song or that wonderful and important memory for us? The song or memory makes us come to our heads, not only the memory of what happened but also all the sensations that our brain has related to that special situation.

We also learn the negative by repetition. If our brain learns to function through negative thoughts, that’s what it will do again and again. Anxiety, for example, works in the same way, it stays “hooked” and is activated every time something reminds the brain. When we always go the same way, we always arrive at the same place. Let’s teach the brain to think differently and take different paths, just to see what happens!

Detect the errors

It is important to realize that among the many thoughts and attitudes that we have, there are many things that are wrong and we are not aware of them. Learning to observe and detect thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that harm us and have strategies, resources, and skills to combat them and face the situations of our lives is something that is learned and is essential. We can learn to live and enjoy.

If we convince ourselves that we are capable of doing something specific, however difficult it may be, we will end up achieving it. But if, on the contrary, we continually repeat to ourselves that we are incapable, that we cannot, that we are not worth it, we will end up turning a grain of sand into a mountain that has been impossible to climb, since our starting point will be one of total blockage and inhibition.

Living in the past and in sad memories only brings sadness, reluctance, helplessness, blockage, bitterness, depression, and in general all kinds of negative and harmful emotions. What happened? We cannot transform the history but we can change the present. Let’s look ahead and build our future by working on our present, day by day, minute by minute, second by second.

Nor is it about others changing so that we can feel better. It’s about learning to change ourselves to be responsible for our own consequences. If we cannot change the situation, let’s change ourselves! And to achieve this change, thinking plays a fundamental role.

The important thing is to learn to detect mistakes in order to learn from them. You have to live day by day, minute by minute, second by second, you have to learn from the past so as not to make the same mistakes. Mistakes should not be seen as failures but as mechanisms to learn and be able, through them, to come out stronger. The more mistakes the more attempts and the more attempts the better learning.

The important thing is not what happens to us, but how we tell ourselves, how we perceive it, how we deal with it, and how we resolve it. The words that we verbalize or that we think have great power to modify our state of mind or our behavior. For example, expressions of complaint make us victims; the critics in arrogant judges; self-deprecations block us (poor me, I do everything wrong, I’m useless…) and defeat us beforehand, if we tell ourselves that we are sick we will feel sick and we will act as such. If we learn to be aware of this, we will use them very carefully, because every time we use them we will be creating something, both good and bad.

When we think intensely about something, that idea gains strength and it is much easier for it to happen. If we think that we are going to make a mistake, that we are going to do it wrong, that we are not capable… we will increase our chances of failing. This is because negative thoughts produce negative emotions, if I think: I will do something wrong, my emotions will be insecure and therefore I will have a good chance that my behavior in this regard will be more ineffective and will inhibit or block me. 

Instead of thinking about a negative result, it is much better to focus on what to do or how to resolve the situation in the best possible way, and this will predispose us to face any situation much better.

Ruminating non-stop about what worries us is not only useless, but it is very harmful as well as causing great emotional fatigue. It is always better to act and analyze the consequences than to inhibit ourselves or tell us about movies whose narrative is disastrous, harmful, and loaded with cognitive errors.

When thoughts are loaded with anger, resentment, discouragement, worry, or any other negative emotion, it automatically makes us make inappropriate decisions that are very different from what we would do in other, more optimistic, and positive emotional conditions.

Let’s not make negative anticipations, they will almost always be based on erroneous beliefs that we end up believing and turning into absolute truths from which we mount all our behavior. Generally, when they are not positive they are usually guided by our fears and insecurities. For instance “If somebody doesn’t contact me on the phone. (when I expect him to) or he walks past me and doesn’t greet me… my mind quickly organizes a whole reality around it and I deduce that he’s angry with me, that he doesn’t want to greet me, that he has something against me, that If he doesn’t call me for something, it will be…” We create realities based on loose elements or speculations and films that we put together but without a solid and real base to justify them. It is always better to ask and wait than to jump to the wrong conclusions.

Avoid worrying about what has not happened

With diseases, we act in the same way. Let’s not anticipate worries or disasters that we don’t know if they are really going to happen or not because we will be suffering uselessly for something that most of the time never happens. Problems or illnesses must be faced and resolved when they really occur and done in the best possible way and with the best expectations on our part, but not when they have not yet occurred and may never occur.

We spend too much effort and time worrying about things that never happen, learning to control our thoughts can save us a lot of suffering and anxiety. Any thought that comes to our mind we take as true and mount a whole series of emotions based on it. Big mistake! Because many times we are unable to filter what is real from what is an erroneous belief. The same situation can be interpreted in very different ways and everything will depend on our thoughts, so let’s learn to control thoughts and promote those that help to resolve and not waste time or energy maintaining those that generate unnecessary damage.

Suppose we are sad due to painful memories or specific circumstances. In that case, we tend to think of everything with a tinge of sadness, discouragement, and melancholy, this greatly conditions our chances of feeling good, happy, and optimistic… We can come to think that nobody loves us, that they forget us, that nothing will work out, that we are not worth it, that few things are worth it… We are free to think, to make decisions, so we learn to think without hurting ourselves.

Psychotherapies

Psychotherapies seek for the person to have as much information as possible about the role that thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can play both in their well-being and in their health, how to control what may be ineffective and negative, what cognitive or behavioral errors are preventing the development of adaptive learning, what to do and how to do it to promote more positive attitudes that help both recover and mitigate unpleasant and harmful consequences.

In short, what can be done in each particular case to resolve situations that prevent us from leading a life with the highest possible quality?

Summary

If we think we can, we can! If we believe we are frustrated we will be! If we think we don’t dare we won’t! If we think we are sick we will behave and feel like one! Everything is in our minds. We get ahead when we think we can. Attitude is much more important than the past, we cannot change the past, and we cannot change the inevitable either, what we can change is the present so that through it we can improve our future, but above all our attitude towards problems and towards life. in general. Let’s not become victims of our own thoughts, let’s learn to modify them to use them for our own benefit and be able to face adversity in the best possible way.

We are always looking for the reason for our discomfort and we forget the most important thing and what really causes this discomfort, and it is nothing other than our own attitude, our own negative thoughts destined to increase the damage, both real and created by our own imagination. Surely if we think about it carefully we feel identified with it. Let’s set ourselves the task of beginning to get rid of that negative way of facing the world. At first, like all learning, it will cost us but later it will be worth it!

A person whose thoughts about life are negative is a person who is in a continuous state of anxiety and there is nothing that causes greater physical and mental damage than letting anxiety take over our lives, accompany us, and gain strength because of the tension that we generate with it will take care of the rest.

Always remember that there is no age to learn to promote positive and rewarding thoughts, we can always learn no matter how old we are. The more time we dedicate to learning, the greater benefit we will bring to our health. Positive thinking will always be accompanied by positive emotions and therefore rewarding. Positive thinking is totally incompatible with negative, harmful, and harmful emotions. Therefore, all the time and energy that we invest in it will have been worth it, since our physical and mental well-being will depend on it.

Also, remember that we learn by repetition, we repeat everything that is effective for us and gives us security, and physical and mental well-being and we eliminate what brings us discomfort and suffering. Suffering is useless and highly harmful to health, so let’s not spend time learning how to develop it. Let’s do just the opposite and we will have won the battle against negative thinking and the physical and mental discomfort that this type of thinking entails. Learning to develop positive thinking will contribute to improving our physical and mental health and thus our quality of life will be greatly benefited.

Finally, remember that:

• If we can’t change the situation, let’s change ourselves, and to achieve this change, thinking plays a fundamental role!
• Thinking is free, it doesn’t cost money but it brings so much benefit that not all the gold in the world could be used to buy it!

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