How to get positive thoughts?

How strong is the power of positive thinking?

Your thoughts create your reality. This has everything to do with the law of attraction. The law of attraction is a natural law that works on the basis of vibrational frequencies. The higher your vibrational frequency, the more happiness, positivity and abundance you call into your life. By thinking positively, we can raise our vibrational frequency. So thinking positively also makes your life more positive.

Yet for many, positive thinking is not the norm. As humans, we have more than 6,000 thoughts a day, about 80% of which are negative. These are not 4,800 new negative thoughts a day, but the same old thoughts that repeat themselves over and over again. In fact, did you know that 90% of our thoughts are repetitive thoughts? Take a moment to let this sink in.

Why do we have negative thoughts more often?

As humans, we tend to place more value on our negative thoughts. We also call this the negativity fallacy. We focus more on our negative thoughts even when they are not important or have no consequences. Because these negative thoughts are constantly repeated, we condition our brains in such a way that these thoughts occur more often in our minds.

No one consciously chooses to live with negative thoughts; this is simply what happens when we are unaware of our thoughts. But at the same time, wouldn't we all want to experience clarity, peace, tranquility and happiness? This is only possible when our thoughts are clear and positive.

Fortunately, we can apply the same rule for positive thoughts as for negative thoughts. If we focus on the positive and place more value on positive thoughts, these thoughts will return more often. But how do you create positive thoughts? And perhaps more importantly, how do you hold them?

How do you create positive thoughts?

Positive thinking is a way to reduce stress, increase our resilience and boost our immune system. How nice would it be to be able to let go of situations we have no control over? And to not always assume all possible disaster scenarios? The answer lies in positive thinking.

1. Observe your thoughts

But how do you think positively? It starts with observing your thoughts. Stop yourself to observe your thoughts. You can do this while standing in line at the supermarket, sitting in the car or taking a walk through the park. What thoughts are going through your mind? And are these thoughts positive or negative?

Are you walking in the supermarket and notice that you are cranky? Stop yourself and examine your thoughts. What thoughts are causing this moody mood? Perhaps you feel responsible to put a healthy meal on the table every day that everyone also likes, or the to-do list waiting for you at home is causing you tremendous stress. Only the moment you are aware of these thoughts can you change them.

One tool that helps you gain insight into your thoughts is meditation. During a meditation, you can observe your emotions and thoughts without judging them. It can help you look at a situation in a different (more positive) way.

There are meditations specifically designed for positive thinking. By doing a meditation for positive thoughts, you release negative thoughts and gain new energy. A great example is the positive thoughts meditation "Positive emotions and feelings" in the Meditation Moments app. (You could also think of the Meditation Moments app as a positive thoughts app).

2. Interrupt your thoughts

When you are aware of your thoughts, you can interrupt them. This is where the magic happens! You can now choose what you want to focus on. By placing more value on new, alternative positive thoughts than repeated negative thoughts, you condition your brain to think positively.

Instead of walking moodily through the supermarket, now visualize being grateful that you have enough money to buy groceries and put a healthy and delicious meal on the table for your family or friends. By visualizing this situation, you attach an emotion to it, which makes the thought more powerful.

How do you hold positive thoughts?

We hate to say it, but there won't be a day when you wake up in the perfect world where negative thoughts don't exist. We are all human and we all have our flaws. So the key is to turn our negative thoughts into positive thoughts. We do this through the power of repetition. By actively repeating the new positive thoughts, rather than the repetitive negative thoughts, we condition our brains to think positively.

The moment you become aware of your negative thoughts, your job is to turn them into alternative positive thoughts. Simply, you force your brain to come up with a creative solution to your negative thoughts. By repeating this process over and over again, it will come more and more naturally.

Training positive thoughts through exercises

There are also practical exercises you can do daily to encourage positive thoughts:

1. Positive questions

Write down five positive questions that you repeat three times each day. Every morning, afternoon and evening read these questions and answers to yourself. Not only does repeating the questions daily create a huge mindset shift, you also give more value to the positive thoughts by focusing on them more often. Examples of questions might include:

• What am I grateful for right now?
• How can I live from love?
• What can I learn in this moment?
• How can I make this moment better?
• What am I good at?

2. Describe your ideal self

Make a list of traits that describe your "ideal self. You can think of kind, empathetic, loyal, open-minded and relaxed. Then the idea is to remind yourself of these words throughout the day. For example, set alarm clocks on your phone as reminders or stick post-its on your mirror. Where before you would be frustrated when you are in the car and suddenly find yourself in a traffic jam, now you are relaxed after seeing the reminder on your phone. Positive thoughts about yourself increase your self-esteem and give you a positive outlook on life.

Why is positive thinking hard?

If it's so simple, why do most people largely have negative thoughts? Positive thinking is harder than negative thinking. It takes more work. Your brain is not used to thinking positively, so you have to develop new patterns and new ways of thinking. And you only achieve this through practice.

Yet it is not only our thoughts, but also our actions and behaviors that drive our minds. If you consistently take new actions, your brain will begin to see these actions as standard. It may sound simple, but by behaving more positively, your thoughts will naturally become more positive.

By doing daily simple things like smiling at a stranger or giving a compliment, you will already notice a big difference in your mood and therefore in your thoughts. What positive change will you make today?