​Teaching Kids & Ourselves the Power of Positive Thinking: 5 Ways to Shift Into a Positive Mindset by Diana Cole

We all have the power to live the life we want, and we can teach our children to create their best lives, too. The key to it all is the power of positive thinking. Our thoughts create how we feel. When we feel positive and happy, the possibilities in our lives seem endless. When we feel negative, heavy “thought dragons” seem to weigh us down and limit our sense of possibility.

Here are some tips that both adults and children can use to shift into positive thinking. Try them with your child!

1. Become Aware of Your Self-Talk

Becoming a Positive Thought Warrior requires that you first become aware of your inner world. The more you become aware of your self-talk, the more empowered and clear you become.

• What are your internal conversations about?
• What do you say to yourself about you and the people you encounter?
• What is the tone of your inner voice?

Shining the light of self-honesty and awareness on the way you talk to yourself is a crucial first step. Awareness allows you to choose thoughts that feel better.

2. Choose Better Thoughts

To start feeling better, we need to start thinking better thoughts! Even one positive thought can lead to a positive inner dialogue, and that ultimately leads to feeling good. The trick is to conjure up positive thoughts often enough to sustain that better feeling.

How? Start by spending more time doing things you like! While you do, take time to notice that you’re enjoying yourself. Think about how lucky you are to be in that moment or experience.

3. Unfollow Negativity

We all have negative emotions or experiences sometimes. When you do, and you notice the negative thoughts rising up inside you, JUST STOP. Allow yourself to pause and create space from the negative thought patterns. This pause gives you space to step out of reactivity and habitual responses and choose something different.

4. Create Positive Thought Chains

Make it a game! See how many positive thoughts you can have in a row. Start with one, and see where it leads you. To create your own positive thought chains, begin by noticing what you like. Then, talk to yourself about it! The more you talk to yourself about what you like, the happier you will feel. Do this as often and for as long as possible.

As you do this, you’ll find that in order to stay positive in thought, you’ll have to think differently about the things you do not like. When you notice something you don’t like, scan for something that feels good and choose to put your attention there. In this way, you’re not in denial about what you don’t like; you’re simply not putting your energy in that direction. And as you talk to yourself about the good in every situation, you’re building on your positive thought chains.

5. Stop to Say Thank You

As a Positive Thought Warrior, you become a magnet that attracts all the good feelings and experiences you want in your life when you think of those things from a place of warmth, excitement, gratitude, joy, love or another wonderful feeling. Even when hard things happen, find something good and say “thank you” for that. You can change your whole life with just this one practice!

What part of your life would benefit from your appreciation and gratitude?

Be happy now, no matter what. That means be happy even when things are not perfect. We can’t control everything that happens in life, but we can control what we focus on and how we respond. As powerful as thoughts are, you are more powerful than any single thought could ever be. In fact, I know for sure that you are powerful beyond belief. That’s really the bottom line for all of us.

We are not participants in our reality – we are creators of our reality.

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