The Power of Thought

A simple thought - yet it has a huge impact on our mind, body and our emotions.

Our bodies respond to our thoughts, as do our emotions. Think of something you love - how do you feel? Now think of something you hate - how do you feel? Think of something you love again - how do you feel now? The way our whole body feels changes with what we are thinking.

So is it any surprise that people who think negative thoughts constantly always feel down and are always depressed. People who think positive thoughts are always happy and have lots of energy.

Positive thoughts such as joy, happiness, fulfillment, worthiness, achievement have positive results such as enthusiasm, calm, well-being, energy, ease, love. While negative thoughts such as judgement, unworthiness, mistrust, resentment, fear have negative results such as tension, anxiety, alienation, anger and fatigue.

Negatives thoughts affect our body due to the fight or flight response. When we are faced with a negative situation our bodies get prepared for either fight or flight. In most occasions we don't use either of these and so our bodies have prepared themselves for nothing. This can be bad for our bodies as during this response some other bodily functions are put on hold, such as digestion, blood cell production, body maintenance and some circulation, healing and immunological responses.

These functions being put on hold can open us up to disease. Also during the fight or flight response our bodies produce natural chemicals - adrenalin - which when not used can break down into toxins. Our bodies can be put under enourmous stress during these responses to negative thoughts.

This is why exercise is so important. When you are exercises you are releasing some of that stored up energy and toxins. Your body is being released from the fight or flight response that it has built up. Regular exercise is especially important in people who are habitual negative thinkers. More than likely regular exercise will also help to stop thinking so negatively.

Positive Thoughts

How we feel about life depends on what we focus on. If we focus on the positive their our feelings about life everyday will become positive.

Take a look around you, look at all the negative things around you, is there mess, a hole in the chair, dirty windows, dishes to be done, find all the things around you that are negative and depressing. Are these the things you tend to focus on daily?

Now take a look around you, look at all the positive things, are you sitting on a soft chair - much better than sitting on a concrete floor don't you think, do you have a house to live in, chairs to sit on, table to eat at, look at those dishes, aren't you glad you have them? Do you have a TV, radio, cd, dvd? Nice paintings or photos on the wall.

Now which made you feel better? When you were focusing on the negative things around you or when you were focusing on the positive? This can go further than physical objects around you, think about your body, negative things, do you have a headache, a sore leg, sore throat, all these things you tend to focus on if they happen. What about the positive things, how often do you focus on the positives with your body, are you healthy, that sore leg you have - be thankful the other one isn't sore also - or even more be thankful you have legs. So many people go through such traumatic injuries or dreadful diseases, if you are healthy be thankful for it, everyday be thankful for your health and your body.

Be Willing To Change

If you are a habitual negative thinker it is not easy to change immediately and start thinking positively, you can try real hard and probably succeed for a little while but it is so easy to convert back to the negative thinking. To really change you may need to change your lifestyle.

You may need to change your job. Does your job get you down? Are you happy with your job or does it make you miserable? I'm not saying just quit right now, this may not be possible for some, you need to have that money coming in, but while you have that job don't just settle with it, spend some time each day looking around for something better, or study part time to work towards a higher goal. What is your passion? So many people have boring jobs just to earn the money - which we all need to do. There are some people lucky enough to earn a living doing what they love, this is what we all need to work towards. Can you make a living doing what you love to do? It may not come easy but it may just be achievable.

Are you stuck in a rut? Have you grown accustomed to your life and your intolerable situations? Change may not be comfortable and it may not be easy. You need to have courage, courage to take a long hard honest look at your life and find out what's not working, and change it.

You are only in this life for a short time, don't spend it being miserable. Life is about YOU - it is your life, do what makes YOU happy. Don't spend your life making everyone else happy if its going to make your life miserable.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

Take a good, honest look at everything in your life. Decide which things, situations and people you tend to think most negatively about. Get rid of them. Yes that's right, the one that just came to your head first when you thought about it, when you thought "if only I could get rid of ........., but I don't dare". Do it - Dare. Throw it out, get rid of them, walk away - CHANGE.

Positive thoughts have positive results. Set your goals, get rid of the things that make you negative. Keep a diary or a 'good thoughts' book, at the end of every day take five minutes to sit and write in your good thoughts book. Think back on your day and write down all the positives about your day. Keep this up on a daily basis, I have found this to be very helpful in trying to stay positive by writing things down.

Write a list of things you enjoy doing. If you like riding, walking, photography, whatever it is you love to do write it down. Each day try to do something from your list, something that will make you happy.

Trust me, by keeping these in writing and doing it daily will keep you on track, help you not to fall back to the negative.

GOOD LUCK!

Shezz P
www.depressiondays.com