Exercises that reinforce positive thinking

In order to reap the personal and professional benefits of staying positive, you must first train your mind to think positively automatically – without you consciously having to decide to “be positive”. To do this you will need to take certain steps.

First, you will need to make a conscious decision to pursue positive thinking and then commit wholeheartedly to realizing that goal. In order for positive thinking to have an impact on your life you will also need to believe in its benefits. And, since there will be setbacks throughout your journey, you will need the power of your convictions to help keep you on track.

Once you have committed to learning the skills of positive thinking, you will need to use certain exercises to teach yourself the methods and to reinforce the affirmative thoughts in your mind. The following is a list of ways to learn and practice the art of positive thinking.

Review your self-talk- The first step to learning positive thinking skills is to review the type of thinking you are currently engaging in now. Think back to the last bad day that you had. How did you react? What types of things were you saying to yourself, both internally and out loud? What feelings did you have immediately about the situation? What feelings did you take away from the situation? How do you feel about the situation now?

The answers to the above questions will give you a pretty good idea of what type of self-talk you usually engage in. For example, did you beat yourself up about the problem? Did your mind search for ways in which the problem was ultimately your fault? Did you blame the incident on bad luck?

We have the power to literally "talk" ourselves into or out of success and satisfaction.