Advantage EAP Employee Assistance Program

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1 Advantage EAP Employee Assistance Program September 2016 Positive Thinking: How Useful is it? What is it?:1, 2 See the positive side, the potential, and make an effort. Dalai Lama In This Issue What is it? Examples of how positive thinking works Positive versus Negative thinking Ways to increase your positive thinking The health benefits of positive thinking Conclusion For Help References Fill your own cup with positivity Is your glass half- empty or half-full? This is the ongoing debate and question. Depending on how you answer the question can indicate if you are more of an optimistic or pessimistic person. How you view the world can impact your health. Positive thinking refers to how a person approaches their life, especially when attempting to deal with unpleasantness. It does not mean you ignore life s less pleasant situation, rather you attempt to approach life with a more positive and productive way of thinking. Positive thinking refers to a person s mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of life and wanting positive results. Typically a positive person anticipates happiness, health and success, and has the belief they can overcome life obstacles. This is an area in psychology that has gain much attention in the last years, Positive Psychology. Example of how positive thinking works: 1, 2 Looking at two different ways to approach an interview for a job. Candidate 1, let s call him Chris. He experiences low self-esteem and experiences many negative thoughts about himself ranging from, I am not good enough to I am a failure, why would they want to hire me. He struggles with feeling positive about himself. Throughout the week, rather than focus on his strengths, preparing for the interview, and getting things ready, such as his clothes, and practice interviewing strategies, he is consumed by his own negative self-thoughts. Come the morning of the interview, he oversleeps, unable to eat breakfast and does not have appropriate clothes ready for the interview. Throughout the interview he is nervous, rushes through his answers, is unfocused in his interview and consumed by his mistakes and his negative self-talk takes over him. Chris made a less than ideal impression, and his fear of not getting the job became a truth. Candidate 2, Marty also applied for the same job and just as qualified as Chris. His approach to the job and interview is one of positivity. He focuses on how his strengths meet the qualifications for the job and how well of fit he is. He uses some strategies such as visualizing himself in the interview and the job and he focuses on preparing himself for the job and the interview. The morning of the job interview he wakes up on time, has prepared clothes and eats. He is ready. During the interview he appears confident, focused and well suited for the job. Marty made a good impression and is offered the job.

2 Positive versus Negative Thoughts: 1, 2 Contact Us Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30am- 4:30pm. Evening hours are available. (540) or scheduling@psychhealthr oanoke.com Nights and Weekends call RESPOND: (540) or Advantage EAP does not necessarily endorse any products or services mentioned. Make it your mission to better understand others. o People are more like to help us if we are positive and tend to cringe away from people who are negative all the time. A positive way of thinking brings more brightness, more energy, and happiness to your life. Positivity can impact your health, your mood and can even impact your voice or body language. Negative thoughts, words create negative and unhappy feelings, and behaviors. There is research that when the mind experiences negative thoughts, poisons are released into the blood, causing more unhappiness and negative, continuing the cycle of negativity. A person needs to identify their negative thinking. Here are some common forms negative thinking: Filtering: focusing and magnifying the negative aspects of the situation and filtering out the positive aspects of the situation. Personalizing: Blaming yourself when bad situations happen Catastrophizing: You anticipate the worst Polarizing: You see things as only good or bad Ways to increase your positive thinking: 1, 2, 3 Just think positive thoughts, just get rid of your negative thoughts, or just engage in thought stopping when you experience your negative thoughts, that works right? Not always, sometimes we need more support or be more active in our process of positive thinking or changing our thinking. One of the first steps is to gain more insight of your negative thoughts and bring this process to the conscious. Other ways to focus on positive thinking or change: Try to ignore what people say or think about you. Use strategies such as visualization or guided imagery to view yourself or the situation in a more favorable light. When you discover yourself using negative words in your inner dialogue, then try to replace those negative words with positive words, you may need to repeat this process over and over, every time you recognize a negative thought in your head. Try to think or expect that situations will end in a favorable or positive manner. Identify and repeat positive affirmations to yourself daily or multiple times daily, even look in a mirror and say them out loud so your voice can register them. Identify areas to change Check yourself during the day, stop and evaluate what you are thinking Follow a healthy lifestyle Surround yourself with other positive people and thinkers Look for evidence to support the negative belief or evidence to reject the thought Think to yourself how this negative thought is impacting my behaviors, my mood and is it a path I want to go down Use Positive Self Talk, it s all how you say it. Negative thought = It s too complicated vs Positive thought = I ll tackle it from a different angle

3 Practice Positive thinking EVERY DAY! It is difficult to change and needs to be implemented daily. Also give yourself a break if you do not do think positive every time successfully, view it as room to grow and change not as a set back The health benefits of positive thinking:1 Research continues to be explored on the benefits of positive thinking. Some Health benefits of positive thinking can include: Increased Life span Lower rates of depression Lower levers of distress Better psychological and physical well-being Greater resistance to the common cold Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease Better coping skills Having a positive outlook enable you to cope better with stressful situations, people who tend to have more positive outlook tend to live a healthier lifestyle, use more adaptive coping strategies and tend to look at life with more optimism. Positive and negative thinking tend to be contagious. Conclusion: 1, 2 Positive thinking can be difficult and negative thinking can be overwhelming and powerful. Positive thinking is something that a person needs to work on every day and take an active role in the process to be more positive in their life. Positive thinking can lead to healthier lives psychologically, mentally and physically. You are the one who has control over your life if you want to have your glass be half empty or half full. You have the ability to choose how you want to look at life and situations. You can choose if you want to see the positive side. You can choose to fill your own cup and then help others learn how to fill their own cups. For Help: If you or someone you know needs assistance with reducing their negative thinking and increasing their positive thinking, utilize EAP benefits to seek services from highly qualified, licensed professionals. If someone you know is experiencing difficulty let them know they are not alone and you are willing to assist them with finding the help they need. Sometimes just knowing you re not alone is powerful in helping others seek the help they need. If you or someone you know needs immediate mental health assistance, you can access a local crisis program, such as Lewis Gale Respond ( ), go to the nearest emergency room, or call 911. Remember, it s better to get help for yourself or someone else if needed. Getting help is better than the alternative. Psychological Health Roanoke has qualified and experienced clinicians available to help you and your family.

4 References 1. Mayo Clinic Staff (2014). Positive Thinking: Stop negative self-talk to reduce stress. Mayo Clinic Website. Retrieved August 24, Sasson, Remezz. The Power of Positive Thinking. Success Consciousness Website. Retrieved August 24, 2016 from 3. Minden, Joel, PHD (2016). The Problem with Positive Thinking. Psychology Today Website. Retrieved on August 27,

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