Positive Thinking for Stress Relief

Positive thinking for stress relief can buffer you from the effects of stress. Here we provide strategies to change negative thinking to positive thoughts for coping with stress.

Is your glass half empty or half full? How you answer that question about positive thinking can illustrate your general outlook on the world.

An optimistic attitude doesn’t mean that you adopt emu-like qualities and keep your head in the sand, ignoring problems or unpleasant causes of stress.

It is about approaching unpleasant or stressful events in a more positive and constructive way.

However, adopting a positive approach can be difficult when you are feeling down or are bombarded by stress. Here we give you some strategies to develop your positive thinking skills which protect you from the effects of stress.

The benefits of optimism

Research shows that optimistic people enjoy a better quality of life and stronger relationships.

People with a positive outlook tend to experience better health, because positive thinking enables you to cope better with stress - which reduces impact of stress on your health.

Also positive people are more likely to live a healthier lifestyle, and to smoke and drink less alcohol.

Positive thoughts and coping with stress

Based on our definition of stress, the way that we perceive a situation can influence our stress levels and our ability to cope with stress.

The attitude that you take into a situation impacts on your stress levels!

Optimists tend to attribute their failures to external circumstances and when they do fail, they tend to have a "try again" mindset.

Optimists are also more likely to have problem-orientated coping strategies to deal with stress.

On the other hand, pessimists are more likely to blame failure on themselves and are reluctant to "give it a go" again with the negative experience.

Pessimists are more likely to be in denial or avoid coping with stress altogether.

So are you an optimist or not?

The answer to this question can be important for coping with stress.

Ways to promote your positive thinking and reduce stress

Given the importance of positive thinking on your stress levels there are a number of ways that you can promote your optimism in your own life.

Indeed, Martin Seligman, a psychologist and renowned clinical research in his book Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life suggests that optimism can be learned.

There are a number of strategies you can do to bring more positive thoughts into your life - and in doing so increase happiness and build your skills for coping with stress.

Any time that you engage in an internal dialogue with yourself you are engaging in self-talk.

Self talk is the stream of endless chatter that runs through your head each day. Self talk can be an asset or your worst enemy.

Self talk comes from logic and reason, but it may also arise from misconceptions due to a lack of information.

Negative thinking can occur when you criticize yourself after an error, when you are down on yourself, anticipate failure or doubt your abilities.

Negative thinking lower your confidence, reduce your performance and lead to feelings of helplessness!

Negative self talk is likely to contribute to a pessimistic view on life.

By becoming aware of your negative thinking and the cognitive distortions that may underlie these; you can develop strategies to turn this into constructive or positive thoughts.

But remember it takes time to develop a new habit.

Some Common Thinking Traps that Perpetuate Stress are:

Black and White Thinking: When you consider that there is no middle ground, the answer can only be this or that. This type of thinking can reduce self esteem or lead to perfectionism. One way out is to use the "it's good enough technique"

Overgeneralizations: When a single negative situation such as a traffic jam elicits the response "This always happens to me". It could also be where you draw a conclusion of yourself based on one or two instances.

Personalizing: This is where you take responsibility for something that was not your problem.

There are a number of other thinking traps that can perpetuate stress which are about beautifully in David Burns' book The Feeling Good Handbook.

Most of us have some negative self-talk going on, and this negative self-talk does not mean that we are doomed to a life of negativity and stress.

There are a number of things that you can do to change this habit.

You can either use a stress diary or throughout the day monitor what you are saying yourself. Be particularly aware of times when your mood may change – when you are sad what are you saying to yourself, what about when you get angry or are happy. Becoming more aware of the link between your thoughts and emotions can give your more control on your stress.

Positive self talk promotes an optimistic view of life and you are more likely to be a positive thinker.Here are some examples of negative self talk and some more constructive statements that you can use to reduce stress.

Developing your positive mental attitude, especially if you tend to have a negative outlook can be difficult. Don’t expect to be able to change your attitude overnight. Positive thinking is a skill.

Like any other skill they need to be practiced regularly to become masterful.

Positive affirmations can help to reprogram your thinking so that you can promote automatic positive thinking. Positive affirmations reflect positive attitudes and thoughts and promote self confidence and personal control.

Affirmations that are believable and capture the feelings of a satisfying experience are the best affirmations. Some positive affirmations such as "I come through when under pressure" or "I see challenges as an opportunity to grow" are good when feeling stressed.

Positive affirmations state what you want, as if you already had it!

If you think you are a pessimist, becoming an optimist takes practice. Changing a habit of negative thinking will not occur overnight. But with practice you can develop your positive thinking, which research shows will improve your outlook, promote better relationships and reduce your stress.

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