The best and quickest way to improve your life is simple: just think more positively.

You’ve probably heard this many times before. And you’re probably thinking, “That’s a great idea, but in the real world it’s much easier said than done.”

It’s true; like a lot of things in life, becoming a “positive” person is an idea that is simple but not necessarily easy.

The goal of this brief article is to give you a few simple and practical techniques that will help you make positive thinking an automatic and permanent part of your life.

Positive Thinking is Critically Important

Your thought patterns have a huge influence over every aspect of your life. Your thoughts determine your personality, the quality of your relationships, your financial success, your physical health, and much more.

You probably have an idea of the power of your thoughts. The fact that you’re reading this indicates you know it’s important.

But if you’re like most people, you still grossly underestimate the powerful physiological effects your thoughts can have.

For example, by simply thinking of biting into a juicy, yellow lemon you can make your mouth water. That’s just a small example of how a thought can create chemical changes in the body.

The fact is that your thoughts greatly influence much more important things than saliva production.

Science has shown that positive thoughts increase your white blood cell count which helps you fight infection and disease.

In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Wisconsin proved that people who practice positive thinking are better equipped to fight disease.

In the study, a team of neuroscientists used electroencephalography to measure brain activity and then gave all the subjects flu shots. What they found is that positive thinking individuals had a significantly stronger immune response than those who exhibited more a negative thought patterns.

The bottom line: positive thinking can make you not only happier but healthier as well.

How Do You Become a Positive Thinker?

If you currently have habitual negative thought patterns – and most everyone does – you can learn to eliminate them and replace them with positive thought habits.

But it won’t happen on its own. You have to make a conscious decision to make a change. Once you do that – and with the help of a few simple techniques – it’s actually pretty easy to become totally positive.

Here are a few simple techniques you can start using right now:

Smile and Let the Tail Wag the Dog

Being happy can make you smile. But does it also work the other way? Can smiling make you happy?

Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have discovered that mimicking the facial expressions associated with such emotions as happiness, sadness, and anger can trigger some of the same physical changes produced by actually feeling these emotions. 

By measuring an array of biometrics – such as heart rate, body temperature, and the electrical resistance of the skin – they demonstrated that simply smiling made the body “happy.”

Apparently moving facial muscles sends signals to the autonomic nervous system, which controls certain muscle and gland activity.  This, in turn, spurs the physical reactions. So, smile and you’ll be happy!

Create a Triggering Mechanism for Yourself

Now try your own smiling experiment. Put a big smile on your face right now. You may have to force it at first but do it anyway and see what happens. It’s okay if you feel silly. Let the silliness make you smile even more.

As you smile, think of anytime in the past when you felt very happy, joyful and positive.  We’ve all had experiences in our lives when we have felt very positive.

Let yourself replay some of those positive moments right now.  Let yourself relive feelings of being positive and confident.

Continue to smile. Release all cares and concerns and with a big smile on your face, feel yourself becoming more and more positive and carefree.

As your positive feelings continue to build, press the thumb and middle finger of either hand together gently but firmly, and say to yourself “I am positive!” 

Again, while you’re feeling very positive, press your thumb and middle finger together and say “I am positive!”

You have just programmed yourself with a mechanism that you can use to trigger these same positive thoughts and feeling anytime you choose. 

Practice this frequently and soon you’ll notice that you can have a positive attitude in any situation merely by pressing your thumb and middle finger together and saying “I am positive!”

Choose Your Words Carefully

What you say and the words you choose are very important to maintaining a positive perspective and eliciting positive outcomes.

For example, consider the word “don’t”.  If you call out to a child “Don’t slam the door!” what’s the next sound we usually hear? Bam!!  That’s right, the door slamming. 

It’s as if the child didn’t hear the “don’t.”  Only the positive part of the statement got through: “Slam the door!” However, if you say “Close the door softly,” the child will be much more likely to comply.

Another dangerous word is “can’t.” People often say I can’t lose weight, or I can’t quit smoking, or I can’t remember names. The more they say that, the more it becomes reality. 

From now on, let the use of that word be like a red light flashing as a warning that this is negative programming that can create false limitations.  Don’t let this word rob you of your true potential.

Eject Negative Self-Talk

More important than the words you say to others are the words you say to yourself. We all have an inner voice that reflects our subconscious thinking.

Unfortunately, a lot of our self-talk is negative. For example:  “I’ll never be able to do it”, or “I’ll never understand it”, or “I’m not smart enough”, or “If something can go wrong, it will”.

To eliminate negative self-talk you must first become aware of it. What are the things that you say to yourself that limit your potential?

The moment you become aware of the negativity eject it!  You can eject it just as easily as you can eject a tape from a tape deck.

To make that ejection more vivid, you can press your index finger against your thumb, or against a table or a dashboard, as if you’re pressing a button, and at the same time emphatically say “EJECT!” 

Then immediately replace the negative with a positive such as “I can!” Over time, repeating this simple physical action will go a long way to helping you become totally positive.

Train Your Brain through Meditation

Research has shown that meditation increases activity in the left prefrontal cortex; the same area of the brain that scientists associate with positive thinking.

And people who meditate regularly are typically found to be more positive and healthier than the population in general.

So learn how to meditate – and practice it often. You’ll train your brain to use its positive thinking centers more readily and quickly become a more positive person.

      > Continued in Part 2

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About the Authors:

Bob and Jeff Griswold are contributing authors to the compilation book "101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life" and the Founder and President, respectively, of Effective Learning Systems, Inc., the leading creator of audio CDs and tapes for personal development and self-improvement:

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