Positive Thinking Exercises

More often than not, we would prefer to think positively rather than be stuck with a defeatist attitude that does us no good. However, the bigger problem is the fact that most people don’t really know where to start. When thinking negatively is an ingrained habit, it’s rarely as easy as flipping a switch and changing your mindset. Yet positive thinking exercises, when done regularly, can spark a dramatic change in your life. It’s a skill well worth learning.

Once you start thinking positively, you will have a firmer handle on your emotions, which can then lead to a state of relaxation and joy. In addition, research shows that optimism affects your physical health so profoundly that you actually live longer. But most importantly, there’s really nothing to lose in adopting a positive attitude
Positive thinking isn’t about ignoring reality. It’s true that sometimes life just sucks and you get stuck in an awful situation. But optimists are able to recover from such adversity more quickly and they learn to find a silver lining in every negative experience. So follow the exercises below and you’re on your way to having a more hopeful mind frame!

Be Grateful

Gratitude requires you to focus on everything good in your life. You can start out by keeping a gratitude journal and writing down a few things you’re grateful for every day. This allows you to take control of your thought patterns and turn them in a different direction. Instead of thinking about that jerk who cut you off on the way home, you think what a great meal you had. Which do you think is more likely to make you happy?
Practicing gratitude has a cumulative effect that makes you happier over time. It physically rewires your brain to stop negative thought patterns. When you’re grateful, you’re able to see beyond the defeatist perspective and take a more positive approach in handling whatever setbacks you encounter. This is, in my opinion, one of the most effective positive thinking exercises you can do.

Forgive and Apologize

Making peace with your past has a way of clearing the mind. Although forgiving is invariably a hard thing to do — especially when you’ve been seriously hurt — it’s important to remember that life isn’t a volleyball match. You get no additional points for being “right” or holding a grudge. In the end, only two things matter: our health and our relationships, and both benefit when you can let go of the past.
Remember that we all make errors from time to time and it’s only human to do so. Every action a person takes seems like the right thing to do at the time, and other people — just like you — are trying to find their little slice of happiness. Sometimes others get hurt along the way, and it’s best to simply acknowledge it, mend the relationship, and do your best to move on.

Embrace Change

Some people cling to their misery simply because they fear change. They become attached to their story: “I’m the guy who developed a drinking problem because his wife cheated on him,” or “I’ve been overweight my whole life and I’d rather have someone accept me for who I am, than get in shape.”
While change is often difficult at first, it’s the only way we grow and develop more effective ways of thinking. These stories exist only in your own mind; think about the people you know, and then count how many people you identify as “The person who ________.”
It’s just not what we do; we take a broader view of people than that. And taking a broader view of yourself is the way you embrace change. Stop getting caught up in your own story and work toward a brighter future.

Find The Gift

This positive thinking exercise is recommended by many psychologists and authors (including Dr. Robert Glover and Olivia Fox Cabane). Whenever you have a bad experience, turn it around by imagining that it’s actually a good thing that it happened to you.
Ask yourself: “What if it was a gift?”

• Late for work? What if it was a gift? Maybe you avoided a deadly car crash as a result.
• Boyfriend cheated on you? What if it was a gift? Maybe now you’ll have the opportunity to meet the perfect guy.
• Diagnosed with an illness? What if it was a gift? Maybe it brings you closer to your family and teaches you to appreciate what you do have.

Sure… sometimes it’s a stretch. But it’s your life, and you can draw any conclusion you want. There are no right or wrong answers.
Here’s why: life is full of infinite possibility, and there’s no way to know if any one event was the best — or worst — possible outcome. You’ll never know if it was a good thing you were late for work, so you might as well assume it was for the best.
A study at Stanford backs this up; they found that changing beliefs was easier and more effective than suppressing the emotion.
So make a habit of doing this; after a while it will become second nature to ask, “What if this is a gift?”

Positive Thinking Exercises: Summary

More often than not, the most practical solutions are actually the simplest ones. Gratitude, change, and forgiveness are highly effective positive thinking exercises that will help you conquer negativity. Make a habit of these, and you’re on your way to a brighter future and wider emotional spectrum.

Merry Christmas
Oluchi JohnBull-Igwe

Daily Habits To Ignite Your Passion

 Daily Habits to Ignite Your Passion

“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.”- Hardy D. Jackson

It turns out passion is not as elusive as we think. Just like daily exercise leads to a more fit and healthy body, there are habits that lead to fire in your belly. If we are to cultivate such a lifestyle we must act accordingly.

1. Surround yourself with passionate people. This is the foundation. Most people don’t believe they can do what they love because they’re constantly around people who hate their jobs and don’t know what excites them. This has to change. Those around you have everything to do with your success and your belief. You’ll either rise up or sink down depending on who’s next to you.
Passion is contagious. You must have an environment that embodies it. You need a support crew who believes what you believe. People who dream as big as you or bigger. Not only will they give you ideas but they’ll condition the belief that doing what you love is the norm. They fuel your passion and make the unthinkable possible. You’ll begin to expect the same of yourself.
 We all need encouragement, look around you. Do the people you see inspire and motivate you? Are they doing epic things? Do they love their work? learn to connect with new people doing interesting things. Check Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Find people in your own town and online. Befriend them. Make them a part of your life. Get out on adventures together. Schedule a weekly dinner or drinks just to talk about what’s exciting. Environment is everything. 

2. Create space. If you don’t give big ideas room, they’ll never show up. Purpose and passion are no different. Lack of space creates pressure – the ultimate killer of creativity. And nothing requires more creative juices than passion. Start small with five minutes each morning. Schedule downtime. Start walking to work instead of taking the bus. Don’t multitask. Get out in nature. Just be, let things flow and see what comes up. Give yourself permission to dream. Passion thrives in emptiness.

3. Help someone in a way only you can. We all have natural strengths and talents that can dramatically help those around us. What comes easy for you is no doubt challenging for others. We tend to take these for granted, often hardly noticing our own gifts, and rarely share them with others. Passion comes from using those on a routine basis. Ask yourself, What do people thank you for? What do people routinely ask for your help with? Most people’s passions help others in one way or another. Perhaps for you it’s knitting, teaching children math, cooking a good meal or leading a yoga class. Devote time each day to sharing your talents.

4. Keep a journal of what inspires and excites you. Let your thoughts run wild. Most importantly, keep a running list of what inspires you. Books, magazines, movies, people, products, music, stories, careers, everything. Most people have a brush with passion almost daily, unfortunately we’re often too busy thinking of our 97-item todo list to take in the education. Anytime something catches your eye or excites you, open up your journal and get it onto paper. Over the years you will have a running story of how you might enjoy spending your time.

5. Challenge the norm. Ask questions. Don’t take things as gospel just because that’s how they’ve always been done. Don’t aimlessly listen to those around you. Question everything you’ve been doing and are about to do, especially if you don’t enjoy it. Is it really what you want? Is it in line with who you are? Perhaps there’s a better way. There often is.

6. Scare yourself – Live outside your comfort zone. Passionate people thrive off uncertainty. If you aren’t doing things that give you a few goose bumps you’re either not learning, dying or bored out of your mind. None of which are good. Do something at least mildly uncomfortable daily. This could be as small as making a phone call or sharing your art with someone.

7. Find the right reasons. If a passionate person gets fired, they brush it off and get excited about the opportunity the lost job must be presenting. You can’t control what happens but you can control your reaction to it. What challenges have come up today? How could you reframe them? The juiciest possibilities often have the best disguises. Notice them.

8. Learn something new. Become obsessed with learning everything you can find – new skills, approaches, ideas, you name it. If it interests you then it’s important enough to get in your brain. We have to fuel what excites us. Grab a magazine or book that interests you and read a few pages on the way to work or before bed. Passionate people almost always have a book within reach. Ideas can be found anywhere. Start looking. Be a sponge.

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Thank you

Oluchi JohnBull-Igwe

five ways to induce confidence in young girls

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Five ways to induce confidence in young girls

“What the younger generation didn't understand was that the grass was greenest where it's watered..”

― Nicholas Sparks, The Best of Me

Most parents have thought about how to induce confidence in their children. As a parent you want the best life for your child and you always ponder on what to do and how to go about doing it. Bringing up a confident child is a learning process. Most people, even those seeming experts have a few clueless moments. It comes as a thought to everyone’s mind every now and then. It is even more difficult when we are handling a girl child. As a guardian or a parent to a girl child you will do your part on one hand and society will counteract the same. This is hardly an under statement as even now, 2015 you will still hear several incidents of gender bias and so on. It might come as a surprise to some people but still on this day and age the girl child is yet to be given the full rights as the boy child and are sometimes looked at in a different mentality in terms of equality of opportunity,place in society just to mention but a few as opposed to their male counterparts. Here are five ways you can boost a young girl’s confidence,

1. Start early,

The earlier you start nurturing confidence in your daughter or a young girl in your responsibility, the better. Speaking encouraging words to them from when they are young to encourage them to be themselves can do a lot of good than you can ever expect. The earlier you start focusing on this the better as it it scientifically proven that from as early as 14 months kids can hear you and digest what you say,

2. Show them love,

This seems like an obvious point but it is one of the things that brings out confidence in your child. Show no bias especially if they have siblings, male or otherwise. If you yell, ignore or make some other parenting mistake, give your child a hug and tell him or her you're sorry and you love her. Unconditional love will help build a strong foundation for confidence.

3. Focus on their strengths,

You can simply focus on your child’s strengths by encouraging them to do what they are good at. Magnifying their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses can help mould their confidence and encourage them to do what they can do best even with more effort hence confidence.

4. Reassurance and encouragement,

When they seem to be disappointed or have not done anything right. Strive to encourage them and reassure them in a positive way. They always know when they have not done things right and by handling it in a genuine way it will help them know their weaknesses and possibly improve on the same. Also this will be genuine and they will learn to embrace their mistakes and try again. This brings out confidence as opposed to holding on to the failures and giving up all together.

5. Outdoor group activities and games

Interaction in group activities with other kids is also another way to boost your daughter’s confidence. Frequently doing activities such as camping will encourage your daughter to be more social and outgoing with her peers. This can start from a young age and can eventually result in her becoming a more social person as a result from social skills drawn from such activities.

Girls are like flowers! blossom for a while and fades away but the inner beauty never dies.....

Oluchi JohnBull-igwe