Positive Thinking for Life Balance
Use Unique Strengths in Combination with Optimistic Hopeful Thoughts
Apr 23, 2008
If your life is out of balance with too much work, not enough play, and no time for yourself to do the things you want to do, focus on these five skills to help bring your life back in balance:
- Positive Thinking
- Using Your Strengths
- Self Awareness
- Setting Boundaries
- Time Management
Positive Thinking
In working toward greater life balance and satisfaction, the place to start is with your mind. If you utilize only one skill set each day, make it this one. Focus on positive thinking. Positive thinking, along with the optimism and hope that accompany it, is good for your health, happiness, and future. Researchers find that positive thinkers are happier and healthier than those who dwell on negative thinking. Positive thinkers live longer too.
Positive Attitude and The Secret
A positive attitude is at the core of the Law of Attraction, the theme of The Secret. Being positive and optimistic attracts events and circumstances that are also positive.
Opportunities and Personal Growth
The cardinal rule in positive thinking is to look for and focus upon the positive aspects of any situation. Personal reflection may confirm the presence of something positive in life experiences that seemed negative at one time.
For example, losing a job can be frightening with the loss of income, the dent to your ego, and the time and effort to find and learn a new job. After the initial shock, focusing on opportunities may suggest this is the chance to start your own business, meet new people, or find stimulating and energizing work.
Positive thinking is not Pollyannaish. Positive thinkers don't "bury their heads in the sand" pretending everything is rosy. Acknowledging negative situations, but choosing to focus on the positive aspects helps a person deal constructively with the situation at hand.
Positive Attitude Questions
After acknowledging the negatives of a situation and getting in touch with your feelings about it, ask yourself these questions:
- What possible opportunities does this situation present and
- What end result do I want?
Signature Strengths
Life is more satisfying when you're at your best. You're at your best when you utilize your core strengths, those special skills and abilities at which you uniquely excel. Authentic Happiness author Martin Seligman, PhD, terms these abilities signature strengths and provides an easy and free resource to help you identify your strengths.
When you use your strengths in your daily tasks you're happier, more creative, and more productive. With a bit of creativity you can find ways to introduce your strengths into nearly any daily task. Doing so will make these tasks more pleasant and you'll feel like you have some control.
If you've had the experience of being deeply involved in some activity, so caught up in it that hours slipped by unnoticed, you were probably using one or more of your signature strengths.
Begin Life Balance with these Two Skills
When you utilize these two skills of positive thinking and using your strengths, as well as self awareness, setting and enforcing boundaries, and managing your time, as described in Self Awareness for Life Balance, you'll find your life feels more balanced.
Related Articles: Positive Attitude, Five Steps to a Balanced Life, Strengths for Life Satisfaction
For more related material see this Topical Index.
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