optimism » Empowering Your Mind

Sparks of Insight

Oct 152018

“People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

Circumstances don’t make us happy or miserable, the way we perceive them do. I’ve known people with all the advantages you could hope for, and they were miserable. And I’ve known people who had very little who were generally happy. The way you view your life and its events causes you to be positive or negative. It’s the same thing as considering a glass half-empty or half-full. Both are correct, but which of those views causes the greater satisfaction?

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Sparks of Insight

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Jul 162018

“The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.” – Winston Churchill

This is another way of putting the old idea of, “Do you see the glass as half full or half empty?” Studies have shown that the way you approach life, with optimism or pessimism, can predict how successful you’ll be. When you see opportunity in every situation, whether it appears to be beneficial or detrimental, then you’ll likely reap the reality of your attitude.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

How can I think positively?

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May 152018

Question: How can I think positively all the time and get my family to do the same?

Answer: Staying positive all the time is hard for anyone to do. The goal is to think positively and optimistically MOST of the time. It’s also difficult to think positively when you’re surrounded by negative people.

Emile Coue, a pioneer in hypnosis, used an affirmation something like “Negative thoughts and negative suggestions have no effect on any level of my mind.” I usually follow it up with, “I accept only positive thoughts and ideas.”

Although you want your family to be more positive, you can’t make them that way. The only person you can change is yourself. Once you’ve made the change, they may look to you as a role model.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Sparks of Insight

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Apr 202018

Do you feel that becoming more positive is overwhelming? You have to stay aware and alert of everything you’re thinking and saying, and be able to look on the bright side of things. Optimists aren’t born, they’re programmed. You don’t have to change your whole way of thinking at one time. An easier way to do it is to chip away at it. Develop optimism on one subject at a time. Pick an area that is fairly easy for you to be positive about, something that you’re relatively confident in, such as cooking, or making phone calls, or your hair. Stay aware of what you think of that area, changing any negative comments to positive ones. Once you’ve made that a habit, add another, more difficult area and build from there.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

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Mar 292018

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

A person can work like crazy to get ahead, have great ideas, great connections, and great opportunities, but still fail. Usually, it’s due to a negative, self-defeating attitude. Through either early training or hard knocks, they believe that nothing they do is going to succeed. Therefore, it doesn’t. They can’t contradict their expectations. Studies have shown that a person with a positive outlook will go farther and achieve more. An optimistic person seems to not only attract more opportunities, but they seem to know better how to make them pay off. And the good news is that optimists aren’t born, they’re created. With some work, you can have a better mental attitude and become an optimist.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart