Positivity – Does it make you feel positive?

Be Positive! It is so easy to say but, it’s not quite that easy is it? We all know that we should be positive, it is a mantra that is said many times a day all round the world, if someone is feeling low you can almost guarantee that a friend, colleague, family member even a stranger will utter these words of wisdom!

Finding your way out of a massive black hole without any ladders, maps or tour guide is not an easy task, I have been there when the future looked like a void, there wasn’t even a tunnel let alone a light at the end of it, yet today my work is based around helping others feel better both physically and emotionally, so I thought that I would write a series of blogs based around how to become your own best cheerleader, after all how can you expect others to love, support and believe in you if you don’t yourself.

The fact that you are reading this blog is amazing, it means you are open to the idea of accepting how positivity can help to change your life and that is a brilliant place to start.

Cast your mind back to junior school, its summer fete day and there is a fancy-dress competition, your mum has got you the most amazing costume and when you put it on you are instantly convinced you have got this! There is absolutely no way anyone is going to have a costume as good as yours! The excitement builds as you and your Mum make your way to school and as you see your schoolfriends all making their way through the gates, the bubble of excitement in your tummy starts to grow and effervesce until you are hopping from one foot to the other, you are positive you are going to win! The announcement comes over the crackly microphone that the judging is about to commence and everyone is to make their way to the stage ……..

This is your memory so I do not know whether you won or lost but one thing you can guarantee is that your emotional response was the right one, if you won the feeling of elation, you knew you would, you just knew it! You collect your prize and certificate with a big beaming smile and run off to your Mum shouting “I won! I Won!” You are so happy you could burst. If you lost, you stand there unbelieving, how could this happen? Your costume is so much better than anyone else’s. You feel the sting of tears prickle your eyes, you hold them back until you can escape the stage and walk over slowly to your Mum, head bowed, and your tears fall freely. Mum gives you a big hug and tells you how proud she is of you anyway.

Both scenarios would end with either a celebratory bag of sweets from the sweet stall or a commiserations bag to drown your sorrows in, because your Mum would always be your biggest cheerleader and protector of your feelings and for most, we were taught the correct way to feel at an incredibly early age.

Fast forward to the present, it’s Saturday night and it’s the final of Britain’s Got Talent, the final acts are on the stage waiting to be eliminated one by one until the winner is crowned. Everyone is waiting with bated breath, willing the dramatic long pause to be over. As the winner’s name is announced everyone bursts into cheers and celebratory applause, a cannon fires shiny foil ticker tape into the air and the winner stands there and bursts into tears, they absolutely cannot believe they have won, they presumed they wouldn’t, they didn’t dare let that bubble of excitement grow the same as when they were seven and walking through the school gates to the summer fete.

Somewhere along the line from childhood to adulthood our default switch is flicked from positivity to negativity and although we know that being positive is so much more of a better place to be, most of the time we are completely unaware that our mindset has even altered.

What I hope we can do with this series of blogs is learn how to recognise our mood and mindset, what we can do to help achieve reaching a happier, positive place and how this will affect our lives for the better.