It has been said that what calls us to action in our lives is our desire, but the only way to achieve our goals is to hold a true belief in ourselves that we can do it. Eleanor Roosevelt said “If you believe you can do it you are right, and if you believe you cannot do it you are also right.” The choice to achieve then becomes ours, however, it will only be accomplished through the power of positive thinking and the belief we can do it.
Science is only now beginning to unlock the secrets of the power of the mind and the effects on the body that ultimately affect behavior. Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the effects of the mind on the immune system, both positive and negative. Nurses have always realized this power through our holistic approach to healthcare and our emotional and spiritual support of our patient. You, perhaps, have seen patients that survived terminal or tremendously grim situations that survived by holding on to their positive thoughts and the belief that they can overcome.
Studies of elite athletes reveal the same findings of the personal belief in the ability to achieve. We can harness this power in our day to day lives.
Overtime, we develop our own patterns of thought rhythms which are habitual ways of thinking. Have you ever encountered someone who was eternally negative? How do they make you feel? How successful are they in their lives? We all have a tendency to engage in negative self talk. When was the last time you said to yourself “I am so stupid” or “I am fat?” Negative self talk can degrade our belief in ourselves and hold us back from achieving our dreams.
To harness the power of positive thinking we must understand the concepts of the conscious and the sub-conscious mind which provide two different functions but both very important in the outcome of our thoughts.
The conscious mind is linked to our sympathetic nervous system and is the part of the mind we are most familiar with. This is the chatter you hear in your head all the time, the self-talk, the internal discussions you have with yourself, maybe the reason you cannot sleep at times due to its over activity. A dear friend of mine who is an expert on this topic calls this the ”monkey mind” because it always chatters in your head and is hard to control. This mind is constantly judging you, your feelings and your actions.
Conversely, the subconscious mind is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system and converts our belief systems to reality. It has no judgment capability and will not challenge the conscious mind. If in our conscious mind we say we are stupid, the subconscious mind simply coverts that to our belief system and the pattern of negative thought has begun. The behaviors follow whether they are things like not pursuing further education or missing opportunities for fear of failure.
We can begin to change our thought rhythms by first of all being aware of them. For one, whenever you say something negative to yourself, write it down on a list. Look at the list at the end of the day and try to analyze why you are saying those things to yourself. Once you realize when and what you are saying, you can begin to apply positive affirmations to change your belief system by challenging your conscious mind. Begin another list but this time when you write down the negative thought, next to it flip the negative to a positive thought. For instance flip, I am stupid to I am smart. I am fat to I am losing weight. I am ugly to I am beautiful. I can’t do this to I can do this. The positive behaviors to help you succeed will begin to follow and over time the negative self talk will begin to decrease in numbers.
Child development specialists recommend to parents that it is important to positively reinforce a child’s behavior and to stay away from negative or destructive language directed toward the child. The experts know how important positive reinforcement is yet we continually attack ourselves with negative self talk. The first step however to changing anything in ourselves is to first develop awareness and then begin to take those baby steps to slowly improve over time. Today is the first day of the rest of your life - just get started, nurses!
About the Author: Dr. Val Gokenbach has a true passion for leadership and has been in administrative healthcare positions for over thirty years. As a professional dancer and fitness instructor for over 40 years, Val has led a dual life as a fitness presenter, consultant and dance instructor. She has been featured as a health consultant and guest host on multiple TV shows and QVC. As an international speaker and author, her goal is to share her life's philosophy with all nurses and help them realize their value to the world.
Click here to read more about Dr. Val Gokenbach.
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