7 Ways in 7 Days to Be Happy: Day 7

OK, well, you knew it was coming right? My last tip. That's right, even though it is very cliché, I have to do a post on the power of positive thinking. The key take home point to is that your thought control your feelings. Therefore, if you change your thoughts about something your feelings will also change.

Let's think of a few thinking patterns that can lead someone to feel unhappy or depressed. Here are a few: 1) I must get an A on all tests to feel worthwhile and smart, 2) I should have a girlfriend or boyfriend (or be married) in over to feel happy, 3) Things are never going to work out for me, 4) The results of my medical tests are going to show something serious.

So how do we change these thoughts? The important thing to keep in mind is that we don’t want to try to change the thoughts to something completely unrealistic such as "Getting an F on a test is great." That won't work and there is no way you will believe it. What you have to do is reach a middle ground. So eliminate the extreme words like "must" and "should." For example, you can change the first thought to this: "I strive to get an A on all tests but it is ok if I get a lower grade, as long as I know I tried by best." Thus, you still have high expectation but do not set yourself up for failure. The 2nd sentence can be changed to: "I want to have a partner right now but there are still other ways I can be happy even if I am temporarily single." With this thought you can still feel happy even though you have not reached a certain goal yet.

Sentence number 3 acts like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Keep telling yourself things won't work out and this is exactly what will happen because your motivation to succeed depends on your thought process. To succeed in life you need to tell yourself success is possible. Even if you have doubts, you ultimately have to believe there is a future for there to be one.

Sentence number 4 is common for people getting medical tests performed. How do you think the person saying this would feel? Pretty anxious and pretty depressed. The thought needs to be changed to something less extreme, such as: "I am not going to worry about the medical test results until someone tells me I have something to worry about." The person saying which sentence will be happier? Obviously the 2nd one. Change your thoughts and then you will change your emotions. Let us know of some negative thoughts you have changed that helped make you feel happier.