One of the best ways to manage stress is to develop a positive attitude. The way you think, day in day out, affects all aspects of your life. Studies have shown that people that maintain a positive attitude, and hence a higher level of wellbeing, have lower cardiovascular risk, lower levels of stress hormones and a stronger immune system.
By listening to your "internal dialogue" you will learn to recognize your thought patterns and how they may be affecting the way you handle the stressful situations of daily living. When first tuning into your internal dialogue, you may be surprised to find that much of it is negative, for example, "I could never do that" or "What if I fail?". Such thoughts will have a negative effect on your behaviour and can induce higher levels of stress hormones which can cause damage to the body.
Being positive does not mean pretending that everything is great all of the time. It is about being cautiously optimistic and positively realistic when things go wrong. To adopt a more positive you can try the following:
- Use positive affirmations to increase your self-esteem. A negative mindset can be very limiting.
- Focus on the good things that people have to offer instead of their bad traits.
- Get rid of all negative words in your vocabulary. Eliminate words like "can't" "won't" and "shouldn't".
- Be realistic, yet positive, rather than negative. Don't let the fear of failure stop you.
- Don't stress over the small issues or trivialities in your life.
- Make life an adventure. Put 100% into everything you set out to do.
- Be willing to help others. By helping others, your outlook on life and sense of pride will improve.
- Take it one day at a time during the hard times. Remember the big picture and believe that tomorrow will be a better day.
- Believe in your judgement. Don't let negative thoughts question your decision.
Thinking positively and approaching life with a positive attitude will give you the mental strength and determination to accept stress as a part of life and manage it effectively.
