Living a life that is positive and healthy in all ways is a goal that takes work and dedication to accomplish. Many of us have a difficult time living this life because we do not know about the tools that are available to help us pave the way to a positive and healthy lifestyle.

There is seemingly endless products and foods available that can help you live a healthier lifestyle, but there is often little focus on mental health, and most specifically, positive self-talk.

Positive self-talk is a simple technique that doesn’t cost any money or take much time. You can begin to immediately implement this strategy as soon as you are ready to make a positive and healthy change in your life. Why should you live an unhealthy life? You deserve much better than that!

How Positive Self-Talk Indoctrinates You with Positive Thinking and Action

Positive self-talk is not something that a lot of people tend to take seriously. The process actually is quite simple, but it takes some dedication. You have to want to live a more positive lifestyle for this to work, and you need to believe that you can change your life. In essence, you are changing your inner dialogue when you implement positive self-talk techniques.

If you are having a bad day and negative thoughts are running rampant in your mind, it not only affects how you think and feel, but it also affects how you react to situations throughout the day. For example, if you’re feeling unusually down or negative, you might find something to complain about, even if it’s the most trivial detail! That’s how much a negative attitude can affect how we think, feel, and react.

Just as negative thinking begets negative action, positive thinking begets positive action. When you have moments of doubt, you can respond with something positive instead of allowing those negative thoughts to affect how you feel. The bottom line is that it’s a conscious choice you have to make. Are you willing to choose the positive?

Using Positive Affirmations to Combat Negative Thinking

Many people use positive affirmations or ideal statements when they are coming up with responses to the negative thoughts. If you are having negative thoughts about your life, for example, you can respond with the affirmation: “I am worthy of being a happy and satisfied person.” This simple statement really can turn your thinking around and make positive thinking your way of thinking.

Most of us don’t realize just how negative we really can be until we start using positive self-talk. When your goal is to reply with at least one positive thought to every negative one, you will become very aware of the negative dialogue that runs through your mind all the time. You may also find that you have much to be happy about and that your life is really quite good!

Utilizing the power of self-talk will be an eye-opening experience and one that will allow you to concentrate on all the great things in your life. This will help you leave your old, negative thought process behind, one thought at a time. If you would like to live a happier and healthier life, you can through the power of self-talk!

In your quest for success, do you ever feel lost or paralyzed because you don’t know what to do next, or because you’re afraid you might make the wrong decision?

If you want to see success, you must keep moving forward, even when you’re afraid. There will always be challenging or confusing moments in your life, but it’s what you do after that matters.

Making the decision to be happy and move forward despite your circumstances is important – and it’s a conscious decision. You can make it, right now.

Choosing Happiness

One of the main things you’ll notice about truly successful people is that they’re happy. Most people assume that their happiness comes from the success they’ve achieved, but it’s actually more likely that their success was borne out of their happiness. Because they found joy in life and believed in great things, they drew those things to them.

By choosing happiness over despair, you’ll be able to draw the good things in life to you, as well. While not difficult, choosing happiness takes practice.

You can focus on things like:

* The positive aspects of your work
* Helping others
* Enjoying your mate
* Past successes in your life
* Places you’ve visited
* Starting your own business
* Anything that brings you joy

Understanding How You Measure Success

Ask a person what success means to them, and they’ll often say it means being filthy rich. But, does it really? It depends on the person. Not everyone equates success with great wealth, and you don’t have to, either.

Maybe your dream is to be a missionary. Perhaps you want to stay at home with the kids, or teach school in an underprivileged area. If you do those things, and do them to the best of your ability, you’re a success!

Having financial security is nice, and great wealth might be enjoyable to the majority of people, but there are other dimensions that need to be fulfilled that are of even greater importance.

What kind of legacy you leave behind, and how much joy you get from your life, can have a lot of significance for the world in which you live. One of the surest ways to see success in your life is to focus on what you can do for others.

Following Your Dreams

Instant gratification is one of the biggest obstacles you’ll need to combat in your mind. After years of instantaneous satisfaction of food, entertainment, and pleasure, you may think that your dreams must be fulfilled as easily and quickly, too. But what if it doesn’t happen? Well it’s awfully disappointing, isn’t it?

It’s easy to get discouraged when your dreams don’t come true as quickly as you’d like, but keep working toward your goals anyway. Avoid letting other people in your life talk you out of success. Most importantly, avoid talking yourself out of your dreams.

Success should always be measured by what you feel in your heart. You can listen to the opinions of others, but the only opinion of success that matters is the one you create for yourself.

Pay attention to how you really feel about your dreams and keep yourself focused on your pursuit of great success. When you achieve what you set out to, you’ll experience a triumphant joy like never before!

As you go through life, you’re constantly affirming your own thoughts and beliefs. Throughout each day, you consciously and unconsciously tell yourself things based on your belief system.

The problem is, much of the time you may actually be re-affirming negative thoughts rather than positive ones. This is bad news. After all, if your affirmations are negative, you can expect only negative outcomes!

How many times in a day do you tell yourself how stupid you are for forgetting something or how fat you are when your favorite jeans feel tight?

Negative thinking reinforces an internal belief that we’ll never be able to change ourselves and that we’re destined to continue repeating our self-destructive behaviors. When we re-affirm our negative thoughts, we enter into a vicious cycle that leads to even more negative thinking.

Imagine how different your life would be if you began using affirmations to reinforce the positive!

Affirmations work wonders if you use them properly. By making a few simple adjustments in the way you phrase your inner dialog, you can begin using this powerful technique to change your thinking and change your life.

Your subconscious mind accepts things on a very literal basis, so for affirmations to work effectively, you need to follow a simple formula.

Follow these tips to create positive affirmations that can change your life for the better:

1. Your subconscious needs to know you’re doing something now, not in the future. For example, if you state an affirmation as something you want to change, such as “I will quit smoking,” your subconscious cannot distinguish what you mean by “I will.”


It has no sense of planning for the future. In fact, your subconscious mind will accept what you tell it, even if the behavior has not yet happened, that’s why you should state your affirmation as if it’s already a fact.


* “I am free from the desire to smoke” is an effective affirmation and will begin to program your subconscious mind into thinking as a non-smoker, even before you put down the cigarettes.


2. An affirmation must be personal for your subconscious to accept it. Saying, “You need to eat healthy” won’t help you change your diet. When your subconscious hears the word “you,” it doesn’t interpret it as a statement directed at yourself.


Instead, phrase your affirmation in the first person. Stick to “I” in your affirmations and you’ll soon notice a strong positive effect on your behaviors.


* “I enjoy eating healthy foods” is a positive, first person affirmation that will help you begin making better choices when you reach for a meal or snack.


3. Your subconscious mind is very literal. It can’t process the concept of “not.” The statement, “I am not going to lie on the couch watching TV when I should be exercising” won’t do anything other than re-affirm how you should lay on the couch in front of the television.


Form your intention in a positive way, even if you haven’t made the behavior change yet.


* “I enjoy exercising in my spare time” is more likely to motivate you to get up and go to the gym, instead of reaching for the remote control and a bag of chips.


Positive, personal, present tense affirmations are extremely powerful in changing how your subconscious affects your behavior.


Make an effort to stop reinforcing your old, negative thinking that keeps you caught in a rut. Try using these three simple techniques today to create affirmations that can change your subconscious programming, your actions, and your life for the better.

Why wait until Thanksgiving to express your gratitude? You have the luxury of living your joyous life every single day of the year. So make it a point to recognize your blessings and remind yourself that showing gratitude for all you already have only does more to attract further blessings into your life.

Here are five ways that showing gratitude attracts more abundance into your life:

1. You’ll be thankful for the little things. When you’re in a positive mindset, you’ll learn to appreciate the little things. The sweetest blessings come in the smallest forms. Once you learn to love, recognize, and be thankful for the little things in life, your quality of life will increase because you’ll be aware of how fortunate you really are.

* Your daughter giving you a drawing that says, “Number one mom!” or your husband picking up your favorite flavor of ice cream are things that you should be thankful for. Your daughter thinks you’re a rock star and you have a considerate spouse. How awesome!

2. You’ll develop impeccable radar. If you often reflect on the fortunate events in your life, you’ll be able to spot a good opportunity a mile away. For example, you’ll be able to smell a promotion in the works or an opportunity to bring your family closer.

* Actively seeking new opportunities to increase your personal quality of life and that of the ones nearest and dearest to your heart will fill your heart with accomplishment.

3. Giving to the less fortunate. When you’re thankful for the bed you sleep in at night, the roof shielding your family from the cold, the family on your couch and the food on your plates, you’re well aware of how fortunate you are. As a result, you’re more likely to jump at the opportunity to help someone in a worse position.

* The smallest efforts from you could make a world of a difference in the life of another. Helping your neighbor craft his resume will help him provide for his family. Donating your used clothing will help keep the homeless warm. And taking part in a walk for breast cancer may give someone else the opportunity to live another day.


* When you help others, you help yourself in many ways.

4. You’ll reach higher. Your grateful ways are a blessing. You appreciate life more intensely when you’re grateful. You also see each day as another chance to bring more joy to your reality, lifestyle, and future.

* It’s perfectly normal to be grateful for what you have, yet often desire to reach for more. Constantly improving your life is a good thing for you and your family.

5. Taking others into consideration. When you’re satisfied with your life and feel genuinely happy, you tend to treat others very kindly. You’ll be more likely to hold the door open at the mall for a stranger or pick up a fallen cane for an elderly man. Your own happiness is magnified when you help bring joy to others.

Your life begins to take a turn for the better when you keep in mind how fortunate you really are. The smallest details can boost your spirits. The misfortune of others will prompt you to help them seek support, and life just begins to look a little brighter.

Starting today, take your positive mindset to new heights and make every day a personal day of thanksgiving!