The Influence Of Positive Thinking On Happiness
We always want more and more. We think we’ll be happy when we get a better job, when we move to another house. Or when we go on vacation more often or when we earn more money. If you’re not happy yet, you probably won’t be when one of these things happens to you (if they happen at all, of course). Positive thinking can contribute to your happiness though, why not give it a try?
People who are unable to enjoy what they already have are slaves to their ambitions. We desperately want to be happier, but don’t know how to achieve it. Read on and discover how positive thinking can help you with this.
This shows a common problem that occurs in people as well as in different situations. We have learned to be ambitious, to want more and more, not to settle for what we get and to always strive for better. But what are we forgetting? That the goal isn’t the top, and reaching the top is useless if we haven’t enjoyed the views along the way. Happiness is about the here and now. Because once we get to the top, we won’t be there long.
I’m not talking about conformism or staying in your comfort zone forever. I want more and I know I can achieve it, but I will face the challenge with a smile and I will be able to add to what I already have. When I feel complete with what I have and still want more, I will have found the key to success, to my success. It’s all about positive thinking.
Positive thinking and visualization
In 1967, Australian psychologist Alan Richardson conducted an interesting experiment that emphasized the power of visualization. In the first phase of the study, he asked the people who were part of it to throw the basket a number of times, while he noted how many times they scored. Later he divided this group of people into three subgroups. The idea was to study how their shooting technique would change over the next twenty days.
The first group exercised twenty minutes a day, but the second group did not exercise at all. The third group did not practice either, but the members did try to visualize for twenty minutes a day how they threw the ball into the basket.
After the twenty days had elapsed, Richardson measured the players’ skills again. He came to a surprising result. The first group had been able to improve its performance by 24%. The second group did not improve at all. But the third group, the participants who only visualized their goal, improved by 23%. Positive thinking had a great effect.
The importance of a good image
Another experiment conducted by Harvard University professor Daniel Gilbert showed us how to enjoy the situations that made us twice as happy. In his experiment, a group of people were invited to dine for free in a good restaurant. Everyone was allowed to decide for themselves on which day they would go. The people who put off dinner longer were the ones who said they enjoyed the experience more. Not only did they enjoy the evening, but they also liked to think about how much they would enjoy it.
What can we conclude from these experiments? That it is very important to have a good image of ourselves. Or of the things we hope to experience in the future. By setting goals, enjoying things, achieving goals, and facing challenges, we can train our brains to make these challenges easier.
Some theories claim that by wanting something stronger, we are closer to achieving it. However, this is not what we are talking about. What brings us closer to the goal is to mentally rehearse the procedure that will be necessary to achieve this goal. This is something that athletes who perform speed tests know very well. During the warm-up, they mentally rehearse the race over and over again. They visualize the result through positive thinking.
The fact that practicing something in your mind has similar effects to practicing it in real life is due to some very special neurons: the mirror neurons.
Does what you already have make you happy?
We can search for happiness all our lives, just like someone who searches the beach for hidden pieces of metal or searches for gold nuggets in the sand. We can choose to do just this. Or we can try to find a balance where our dreams are very important, but so are our positive emotions. These are the emotions that arise when we stop and step back to realize what we have accomplished.
This balance will not only help us feel better. It will also make it easier for us to deal with our ambitions in a different way. It helps us to see them as something desirable and accessible, but not absolutely necessary. It won’t stop us from having the motivation to keep going. However, it will reduce the impact that any setbacks may have. Can you think of anything worth more than happiness?
