Think Positively

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most influential sentences in English language. Life is precious to everyone. And liberty is even more precious. But under usual circumstances, most of people don't feel their life and their liberty are threatened. What they concern most is the pursuit of happiness.

To obtain happiness, we should know what makes difference to our happiness. There is an Internet survey on what factor is the key to happiness. Nine million people globally participated in that survey. Can you guess what most of people think is the key to happiness?

Money? No. Achievements or Love? No. According to that survey, 59% of people think mental attitude is the key to happiness and only 5% of people think money is the key to happiness.

What is mental attitude? There are several definitions. But basically, mental attitude is our view of the world, of the people around us, and of our situation. Simply put, mental attitude is what we think.

There are hundreds of studies that prove the importance of what we think. There was a psychological test. In that test, a psychologist asked three men to submit themselves to test the effect of mental suggestion on their strength, which was measured by gripping a dynamometer.

When he tested them under normal waking conditions, their average grip was 101 pounds.

However, when he tested them after he had hypnotized them and told them that they were very weak, they could grip only 29 pounds – less than a third of their normal strength.

When these men were tested a third time, telling them under hypnosis that they were very strong, they were about to grip an average of 142 pounds.

When their minds were filled with positive thoughts of strength, they increased their actual physical powers almost fifty per cent.

Such is the incredible power of our mental attitude.

How to think positively? Here are some tips:

1. Look for the good in every situation. It is certain that we can learn and benefit from every situation. If a person is willing to look for good in a situation, he will almost always find it.

2. Be thankful for what you have. Everyone possesses something that is truly worth being thankful for, for example, health, peace, food, fresh air, free time etc. You can be thankful only because you can hear or see if you think of Helen Keller, a famous deaf blind American author.

3. Say positive things about yourself and about other people. Always use positive words, such as, "I can", "I am able", "it is possible", "it can be done", "I like the job" etc.

4. Surround yourself with positive people. Associate yourself with people who think positively. This is also one of the reasons that I come to this Toastmasters club.

5. Engage in some physical activities. Physical exercise helps to develop a positive attitude.

You can find other tips on Internet to help you build up a habit of thinking positively.

Our mental attitude is the vital factor that determines our fate. We are what we think about all day long.

To be happy, healthy and successful, we should think positively.

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The above is one of 8-10 min speeches I delivered in my Toastmasters club (CC#10).