::Mind Matterz::

After a good night sleep, the moment we open our eyes, our mind starts ticking with various thoughts. Some are just random thoughts which keep circulating on and off and others are brought to mind to execute an action. A pessimist thinker will focus on negative thoughts, which will have the potentials of releasing all the negative emotions in the process. An optimist, on the other hand, will naturally focus on thinking positively. Have you introspected yourself if you were a pessimist or an optimist? There is a general belief that pessimists are more practical in their approach to life because they are not resting on false hopes. But let us understand the difference between practical thinking & pessimistic thinking? When an army Captain realizes that he does not have enough ammunition and food supplies to provide to his troupes, he backs out from enemy territory. He thinks that he surely will loose the battle under the given conditions. How would one evaluate the thinking of the Army Captain? Its ofcourse practical thinking. But lets consider that there is enough ammunition and food supply and the troupes too are enthusiastic to proceed into enemy territory, but the Captain feels that there is no point proceeding as he thinks that he & his troupes will somehow loose the battle. Now this is pessimistic thinking for sure. Lets take a more ‘civilian’ example. You have a presentation to make at your workplace tomorrow and you and your team is well prepared and have been working on it since a month. If you are all the time thinking tonight that something will surely go wrong and that the presentation will turn out to be a fiasco then from a psychological point of view, you certainly are doing ‘negative or pessimistic thinking’.

Well then how can one start thinking positive and transit from pessimistic attitude to an optimistic attitude? First and foremost make a checklist on paper or in your mind (if you are well organized and have a strong memory) of all things required to accomplish tasks/plans that you intend to execute. If you feel that some things on the list have to be worked for, then set a time frame for accomplishing all the unchecked elements in your list. Once you see that all the elements in your list have been accomplished then automatically you will start feeling positive about executing the plan. Some plans need time to get executed. Meanwhile, you can just keep a close eye on monitoring if all the elements required in executing the plan are well in its place and have not got exhausted. At this junction, see that you are glowing with a positive frame of mind. Keep telling yourself consistently that ‘I have set the machinery for executing my plan/s and am working towards my goals’. This would eventually be leading you towards optimistic attitude formation. A pessimistic mind would say ‘What if something doesn’t work?, ‘What will happen if my efforts will go to drains’? etc.

The film ‘Eat, Pray and Love’ which was released in August’10 has a very nice optimistic line mentioned in it by the character ‘Richard from Texas’ to Julia Robert’s character ‘Liz’. In her search for peace of mind, Liz visits a Guru’s ashram located in India. Richard is an ashram inmate who is convinced that peace is intrinsically derived and advices Liz ‘TO CHOOSE HER THOUGHTS, AS SHE CHOOSES HER CLOTHES’!!!!

So true, isn’t it? Don’t we wear best of our clothes when we have to present ourselves? Even when we are at home, we tend to wear clean, non-shabby, untorn clothes. Just like we open our ward robe and choose our day’s attire, we have to choose our thoughts to put us at a peaceful balance. Just as clothes help us look physically attractive, our thoughts make our mind attractive. The more positive you think, the more positive thoughts & positive minded people you will attract & vice-versa!

Original Article written by -Shraddha Sankulkar (Psychologist/Founder-Director Mind Matterz (A Psychological Guidance Unit)