What Ails You: Positive thinking to start each day right

Before we get started today, I want to share with you that your voices were heard. Last week, our representatives in the Senate passed and then overrode the President’s veto of important legislation aiming to protect your access to healthcare under Medicare. Congratulations on a hard-won battle. 

Let’s talk today about the affect of positive thinking.

Like the voice-over in a movie, our inner self offers a running narrative and critique of our life as we live it. How many of you find that your inner self, more often than not, is a mean critic? Do you ever really get it right or is there always something you could have or should have done differently? When was the last time that rotten little bugger actually offered you a little congratulations on a job well done? When things aren’t going well, does your little voice offer you support and encouragement or does it remind you that you’re essentially a loser and deserve your lousy fate? 

You may think that little voice in your head is something you have no control of, but, in fact, you have a lot of control over it. The things we say to ourselves and about ourselves, become self-fulfilling prophecy. 

One of the first lessons my patients must learn is to stop saying, “I can’t.” There is a disconnect that happens between your brain and your body or between your brain and your life when you say, “I can’t.” Say it and it will be so. I teach my patients that they can say. “This is hard!” “I hate you for making me do this!” “I have trouble with this.” Even better, how about, “I will try!” 

With careful attention, you can change your inner musings from negative to positive. When you do, the change in your life will be monumental. Every aspect of your life will improve:  your health, your esteem, your relations with those you love and with those you are not so fond of. Your perception of life as an endurance event will change to one of a life well-lived and filled with joy. All it takes is commitment and a few positive thoughts.

Let me give you an example: Have you ever waken up in a foul temper. From the minute your feet touch the floor, you just know it’s going to be a crappy day? Didn’t the day turn out just that? One thing after another went wrong. You can’t find your car keys. You need gas when you are already running late. Everything all day long is an annoyance until you finally grumble yourself off to sleep?

On the other hand, what happens when you wake up feeling on top of things? Isn’t the day better? You may have trouble finding your keys, but instead of being grumbly, you stop, think for a couple of minutes where you had them last and retrieve them with relative ease while you hum to yourself. You still need gas, but you take the opportunity while the tank is filling to lean against the car, feel the breeze, wave to a neighbor. At the end of the day, you smile to yourself. 

Wouldn’t you rather everyday be like the latter? It can be. It’s simply a matter of mind set. I know you think it’s not possible, but you’re going to have trouble arguing with me on this one. If you say it can’t be like that, I’ll point to my earlier paragraph and tell you that if you say it can’t, then it can’t. But on the other hand, if you’ll suspend disbelief, make a promise to yourself to start every day with a positive thought, replace negative thinking with positive thinking, you just might find out I’m right. 

There is no problem so big that your own loving affirmation and positive belief can’t make it better. The trick is to approach your life with gratitude and the belief that everything will work out as it should. You are going to be okay. 

Let’s start with this: make a list right now of five things you are grateful for. Don’t pass judgment on yourself. Maybe the best you can come up with is, “I am grateful the dog didn’t pee on the floor this morning.” You can give grand thanks for life in general, but try to be specific, too. Try not to put any negative language at all into your grateful statements. Don’t say, “I am grateful that my arm doesn’t hurt worse today.” Instead, say “I am grateful my arm is improving.” 

After you have counted your blessings, take a moment to breathe deep. Relax and, just for a moment, find that positive force inside you. Send positive energy out into the world and you will find that, indeed, you will reap as you sow. 

Affirmations are statements of love and acceptance that you read out loud to yourself several times daily to remind you of the person you aspire to be. By reading your affirmations positively and with conviction, you will become that which you believe possible. Simply put, if you can believe it, you can be it. 

Let me help you get started. Your better life begins today when you say: I do not judge or blame myself. I forgive myself my weakness. I see my mistakes as lessons and I learn from them. I am a good and loving person at peace with myself and others.   

Life is what you make of it. Only you can decide whether it is a bouquet of roses or a patch of thorns.   

 
ABOUT THE WRITER:
Jackie Randa is a physical therapist who owns Back on Track in Barstow. She can be contacted at jranda@aol.com