Do you consider yourself more of an optimist or a pessimist? Studies suggest that the answer to this question may reflect your attitude towards yourself, those around you, and on your outlook on life. These may have further reaching consequences on your ability to deal with stressful situations and play a roll in your physical health.
Positive thinking is about dealing with life's unpleasantness constructively and productively. You plan for the worst, but you hope for the best. Positive thinking often starts with self-talk, the continuous stream of thoughts that run through all of our heads. These thoughts run on auto-pilot and can be both negative and positive. Negative thinking can arise as a consequence of self-talk that is short-sighted or relies too heavily upon past experiences. We need to catch ourselves when we find ourselves going down these downward spirals, as this can bolster our ability to deal with stressful situations.
People who think positively are better equipped to handle feelings of stress, anxiousness, and anger. Their positive thought patterns help find constructive solutions to problems they're facing, helping them avoid feeling anxious about everyday life. Besides this, positive thinking can also increase a person's life span, increase their resistance to the common cold, improve physiological well-being. Positive thinkers also exhibit lower levels of depression and distress as they have better coping skills during hardships and stressful periods. It's not entirely clear why positive thinking has all of these physical health benefits, but one theory suggests that since positive thinkers are better at handling stress, their body handles stress better and is immune to the harmful effects of stressful situations.
If you find yourself constantly worrying about things and going down downwards spirals, don't worry. Positive thinking is a skill we all slowly work to build. With practice, it can help us be better prepared to handle the many curve balls life throws at us.
