Life is often unpredictable and everyone has an occasional bad day. Bad days happen to the best of us, from stay-at-home moms to teachers, doctors, consultants and major hedge fund traders. Unpredictable bad days can make it easy to fall prey to negative thinking, which, over time, can impact both mental and physical health. A positive attitude, or the term I coined, “Bullish Thinking,” can allow individuals to persevere and alter their negative thoughts and emerge with a happy and energized outlook for all of their endeavors.
Many executives who have come to me in private practice for performance coaching have told me that they have struggled to let bad days go. Losses would trigger within them images of poverty, the loss of a job and huge doses of anxiety and self-defeating thoughts about their competence. Consequently, one bad day or afternoon would on occasion, spill over into a prolonged stretch of digging out of a hole. Although I’m using financial executives as an example, these catastrophic thoughts and bad days can happen to anyone. The reality is that everyone faces difficult issues in their lives and must deal with adversity in an adaptive fashion. The number one quality that differentiates someone who bounces back after a disappointing event from one who crumbles and remains passive is perception.
“Bullish thinking” is the ability to see the sun through the clouds and rain. Like positivity, “bullish thinking” is the ability to learn a new outlook and mindset and allows us to transform these negative thoughts into productive and positive feelings. It is a cognitive technique that I teach my clients to help them maintain emotional discipline in the face of adversity. It helps them to get back to the top of their game and prevents them from bringing their bad moods home. Mastering this style of thinking allows them to improve their overall quality of life and reap the financial rewards that they feel they deserve.
Here are some tips to become more positive and to learn how to think like a bull!
EXERCISE. When you start feeling down and the negative thoughts are entering your mind, exercise. Exercise can allow you to release some of your frustration and can releases endorphins, which can trigger positive feelings in the body.
RELAXATION TECHNIQUES. Participation in relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga can allow you to clear your mind and the negative thoughts that have arisen.
BE PRODUCTIVE. Distractions and productivity are important for breaking the cycle of rumination. Rumination, or repeated negative thinking, can only increase the negative thoughts. It is important to keep busy and put your attention and thoughts towards other things in order to be productive and distract yourself from the negative thoughts.
CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION. Perception is critical to your overall level of happiness and quality of life. Make it your business to check in with the quality of your thoughts more regularly. If you realize that negative thoughts have entered your mind, you will be more cognizant to efforts to change your mindset.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH MORE POSITIVE PEOPLE. Being around positive people can in turn make you feel more positive about yourself.
SMILE. Studies have found that forcing yourself to smile will in turn make you feel happier! Smiling will also cause other people around you to smile and thus will create a more positive environment!
CHANGE YOUR NEGATIVE THOUGHTS INTO POSITIVE THOUGHTS. When you start feeling down or negative thoughts enter your mind, try replacing them with positive thoughts. Use real-life data to manipulate your rut into something positive. Think of the positive things about yourself and life or about your current situation and you will start to feel more positive. Don’t give in to the temptation to search for the negative. Everything exists in opposites. Focus on the positive.
Although we all have our occasional bad day and negative thoughts, we have the ability to transform those negative thoughts into positive and productive feelings. It is important to not only think about the negative days and feelings but also to enjoy and treasure your good days and feelings, too! In order to know positivity, we have to know negativity. We just don’t have to give it as much attention as it wants. Embracing positivity will not only improve your mood, but will also improve your productivity and life as well!
To learn more, visit www.draldencass.com or call Dr. Cass directly at 646-202-9611.
DASHA® is a luxury lifestyle brand and New York City-based wellness center created to offer a truly holistic approach to wellness. To learn more, visit dashawellness.com.
