What Is Positive Thinking?

Author and founder of the positive thinking website Success Consciousness, Remez Sasson defines positive thinking as an attitude that allows only uplifting thoughts, images and language into your mind, creating a thought process that expects and looks forward to growth and success. A positive thought looks forward to happiness and health, rather than catastrophe. Using this positive mental attitude and keeping it consistent can increase your health and give you a better sense of control and power in everyday trials as well as more severe struggles.

Identify Self-Talk

According to MayoClinic.com, self-talk is the ongoing dialogue or the constant thoughts that run in your mind every day. Negative self-talk can be helpful when considering logical or real situations, though often it is based on a misconception. The Mental Health Foundation of Australia says that most self-talk is habitual and you may not even know that you have a negative thought pattern. Identifying self-talk and exploring whether your thought pattern is primarily negative or positive is important in adopting an optimistic, positive outlook.

Health Benefits

Having positive thoughts affects your physical health, according to MayoClinic.com. With positive thinking, you may experience longer life, less depression and distress, resistance to illness, overall wellness, reduced risk of heart attack and other heart related problems, and increased coping mechanisms. Thinking positively allows your body to regulate stress levels. Your thoughts can also encourage you to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Stress Management

Having positive thoughts, or positive self-talk, is a key to stress management. According to health website Cedars-Sinai, stress can negatively affect the immune system, making positive thinking important in controlling and regulating levels of stress. (See References 2) With positive self-talk, you are able to approach situations and unpleasant events with a healthy, productive attitude rather than a negative and counterproductive attitude. (See References 1) Thoughts such as "I can make it through this hardship" or "I have the potential to succeed at this" are examples of positive self-talk.

Treatment

Positive thinking is often used in the psychiatric world as a cognitive behavioral treatment for various conditions. Often, positive thinking is used to treat depression, allowing for management of damaging stress that could trigger depressive episodes. The Cedars-Sinai website says that positive thinking may also entail using images or visualizing positive situations, events or outcomes to help better manage your condition.

Developing Positive Thinking

Turning your negative thoughts into positive ones can take time, according to the Mental Health Foundation of Australia. To develop a better thinking pattern, begin by actually noticing your thought pattern and isolating negative thoughts, then turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts. The American Heart Association gives these examples: Turn "I can't do this" into "I'll do the best I can" or change "Everything is going wrong" to "I can handle things if I take one step at a time."