How to Change Your Perspective and Get Unstuck

You know the old saying, ‘Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’  You’ve probably reminded yourself of that many times, especially when you’re stuck or down in the dumps. You’ve probably given others the same advice too.

 

Saying it is one thing, but why is it so hard to do? Because most of the time our actions and reactions have become so ingrained into our way of thinking, we’re not even aware of them. They’ve become habits. Patterns of behavior.  So we have a choice.  We can be victims of our thoughts, stuck in the negativity trap or we  can be mindful of our actions and reactions, and reprogram our brains to embrace a more positive view. We can get unstuck. We can change our perspective.

 

On average, people have about 50,000 thoughts a day and about 80% of them are negative.  Yet, we weren’t born that way.  In fact, science has proven that babies are born positive. That being the case, it’s startling to think that for most of us negative thinking has become an automatic response, and one that develops without our conscious awareness as we grow up.  Being mindful of that, provides us with the opportunity to rethink how we deal with thoughts and actions, and develop mechanisms to turn what’s ‘normally’ negative into what’s more positive and gratifying.

 

The reality is that everything is neutral but how we perceive it colors both our thoughts and our actions. It impacts both our personal lives and our businesses and it affects not only ourselves, but every life our life touches.

 

In this short TEDx talk, Alison Ledgerwood, a social psychologist from UC Davis, uses a couple of basic experiments to demonstrate how we fall into the  negativity trap and offers  to simple suggestions to getting unstuck.

 

 

Positive of negative, it all boils down to mind over matter.  Which will you choose?