AFFIRMATION: I choose my thoughts wisely, look for the good, and develop positive thinking.

Your internal world creates your external world. What you think daily affects your life. Therefore, identical thoughts create consistent actions, giving similar results. What’s helped me is to change my perception, focus on the good, and to positive thinking. If you want something different, you’ve got to DSD—Do Something Different. 

“You have the power to change your thoughts and your thoughts have the power to change your life.” — Ron Willingham

Unconscious Thoughts

Cleveland Clinic’s HealthBrains.org states our brain processes 70,000 thoughts each day. ¹ And most of these are repetitive. Our minds act out of habit and return to prior responses. Cognitive neuroscientists have found that only about five percent of brain activity is conscious. In other words, 95 percent of the time, we are not being mindful of our actions, habits, decisions, behavior, and emotions.

We are unconsciously acting and making choices based on previous experiences. It’s like when we brush our teeth. We don’t think about the steps, like picking up the brush, putting toothpaste on it, then brushing them. We’ve repeated this behavior so many times that our brain works out all the steps and we perform it unconsciously. 

This helps to understand why it’s hard to change. But we can change. By focusing on positive thinking and something more beneficial, we can shift our actions and receive a different outcome. This approach helps to transform our behaviors, choices, actions, and habits. If we don’t, we will just keep getting the same results.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein

Changing to Positive Thinking

How can we change? By thinking and performing actions and habits of what we want to appear, then repeating them so we create new neural pathways in the brain. They say, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” We operate by the systems we create.

Brain cells communicate with one another, and this connection gets stronger with repetition. Psycholgist Deann Ware states in Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together, “Messages that travel the same pathway in the brain over and over begin to transmit faster and faster. With enough repetition, they become automatic. That’s why we practice things like hitting a golf ball—with enough practice, we can go on automatic pilot.” ² When learning something new, such as driving or playing a sport, it can be difficult at first. But when we learn how, we complete them unconsciously. 

Our thoughts create our experiences. And the more we do something, the stronger and faster our neural pathways become. Think of pathways as highways in the brain. The more we repeat a thought, action, or habit, the deeper and stronger these highways become. To get a different result, we must change direction.

Where’s Your Focus? Is it Positive?

Notice the thoughts you repeat often. Are they beneficial or detrimental? For instance, do they empower you or make you feel less than? What you focus on, you will receive.

Are they positive or negative?

Are you focusing on lack or possibilities?

Do you think you are stuck or are there opportunities?

Do you see problems or solutions?

Are you giving attention to your weaknesses or strengths?

There is power in positive thinking. And the more you focus on the good, more good will come. Like attracts like. The question is, “What are you attracting?”

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” — Willie Nelson

Perception and Positive Thinking

What we see now is based on past thoughts and actions. When we can become conscious of our thoughts, we can change our patterns. But much of the time, our thoughts are unconscious based on past experience. If in the past, we’ve gotten upset about having to stand in a long line, we’re likely to provoke a previous response. To receive a different outcome, we need to revise our thinking.

Instead, accept the situation and release prior expectations, like this line is going to take forever. Then replace it with, standing a minute or two isn’t a hardship, then we’ve created a new response and released the burden. This will form a new pathway in the brain, and repeating this action will help to cement the connection. Change the response and the result changes.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” — George Bernard Shaw

When stress or frustration arises, try to switch to a neutral or positive action, like listening to music or focusing on something else. This can help to transform the annoyance into a better experience.

“The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don’t have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it.” — Chris Pine

Positive Insight

In conclusion, if you can look at life from a more beneficial viewpoint, you can lessen stress and increase peace. It’s all about perspective. Do you see a mountain or a molehill? Is the glass half empty or half full? You get to decide how you view situations. It’s within your power to manage your thinking. Start by changing your thoughts. There’s power in positive thinking. And when you do, you create a more empowering, different future.

Our thoughts follow our attention, so focus well.

1. https://healthybrains.org/brain-facts/
2. Deann Ware, Ph.D., “Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together,” Daily Shoring, Accessed April 11, 2023, https://www.dailyshoring.com/neurons-that-fire-together-wire-together/

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes