Power of positive thinking: how thoughts can change your life.

• Author: Rathod, Faisal Saleem

Byline: Faisal Saleem Rathod

Having an optimistic outlook on life - a general expectation that good things will happen - may help people live longer, according to a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Our mind is full of thoughts all the time, positive and negative, these thoughts have a great impact on our lives; our behaviors are influenced by our thoughts.

Research is beginning to reveal that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or displaying an upbeat attitude. Positive thoughts can actually create real value in your life and help you build skills that last much longer than a smile.

The impact of positive thinking on your work, your health, and your life is being studied by psychology researchers at top universities.

Positive thinking doesn't mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life's less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst.

Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information.

If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely an optimist - someone who practices positive thinking.

Putting positive thinking into practice

Negative self-talk Positive thinking

I've never done it before. It's an opportunity to learn something new.

It's too complicated. I'll tackle it from a different angle.

I don't have the resources. Necessity is the mother of invention.

I'm too lazy to get this done. I wasn't able to fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine some priorities.

There's no way it will work. I can try to make it work.

It's too radical a change. Let's take a chance.

No one bothers to communicate with me. I'll see if I can open the channels of communication.

I'm not going to get any better at this. I'll give it another try.

Thoughts have a great impact on our lives; our behaviors are influenced by our thoughts. It's said that 'What we think; we become'. Taking example of the most common thought in our society, "What people will say?", even if people don't care...