Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

We’ve all been there before. Every single person, no matter how confident, talented, intelligent, or good-looking has felt low or negative at some point in their lives. As human beings, we are inherently complicated, and emotions are part of what makes us human.

These days though, because of certain stresses in life, including the increasingly always-connected nature of work and society, more people are suffering from negative thoughts and even depression.

It might be expected that as societies become more ‘developed’ then people would become happier. In fact, in many so-called developed Western societies, incidences of depression continue to rise. You should never underestimate the power of positive thinking though.

One of the biggest problems in the modern age seems to be that people are often thinking about what they don’t have, rather than considering all the positives in their lives. This is generally more the case in richer countries with all the pressures put on people by advertising, and the consumer culture that is pushed upon them.

We are constantly being bombarded by messages about what to buy, what is ‘cool’, and how celebrities are enjoying their lives. This leads to many people feeling worthless.

Once you start to consider all of this it seems obvious why increasing numbers of people, especially teenagers, question their own self-worth. There is an alternative though: change your thoughts, change your life.

Instead of comparing yourself to anyone else, think about how you want to live your life and what positive steps you can make to improve your circumstances. The biggest change you can make though is to become more grateful for all the things you do have in your life.

If you are reading this, then you have access to the Internet and l likely own a computer or smartphone. You, therefore, have a device allowing you access to virtually unlimited educational resources for free! Just stop to think how incredible that is.

Of course, the world is full of suffering, with starvation, wars, slavery, and a host of other terrible problems. This does not discount from the fact though that in rich Western countries, much of the negativity, anxiety, and unhappiness that people are suffering from could be reversed if they made simple changes to their lives.

Instead of watching TV every day, read a book or start an online course, rather than chatting on social media meet up with friends and family, and start exercising daily as this will dramatically improve your mood. It’s also extremely important to stop focusing on what you don’t have and start cultivating gratitude for what you do.

In fact, studies have shown that regularly practicing gratitude “seems to kick off a healthful, self-perpetuating cycle in your brain” and physically changes it to increase happiness levels. It is almost like having a gratitude ‘muscle’ in your brain that can be exercised and strengthened by focusing more on what you are grateful for in your life.

The more you strengthen this ‘muscle’, the more the feeling of gratitude and in turn happiness will arrive in your mind spontaneously. Ultimately this shows that by changing the focus of your thoughts through practice, over time you can actually improve your life.

If you found this post useful and think it could help someone else, please share it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!