Aviva Damania is a Psychologist, trained at City University of London (MSc Mental Health). Starting off as a volunteer counsellor in charities across Mumbai in 2014, Aviva’s practice at Masina Hospital has gained her extensive experience working with adults, adolescents and children. Aviva is the founder of ‘The Mind Essentials’ – a platform for online counselling committed to a long-term investment in marginalised people. Senior Manager at Pittie Group, Aviva Damania shares significant symptoms, solutions and insights into numerous concerns which affect our mental wellbeing.
Amidst this pandemic and the perception of the dreadful 2020, let’s ensure not to start the New Year on the wrong foot! Navroz stands for ‘new day’ – a fresh start. We may not be able to change what’s going on around us, but we can change are our thoughts and our outlook. As Zoroastrians, we believe in good thoughts, good words, good deeds. It all starts with a good thought. There’s more to positive thinking than what meets the eye…
What Is Positive Thinking?Positivity is not all about just smiling and good cheer; it’s about one’s overall perspective in life, about experiencing both, positive and negative emotions, but effective management of the negatives and thereafter, choosing to be generally optimistic. Positive thinking involves an optimistic outlook, acceptance of change and reality, resilience in the hardest times, gratitude for the good things in life, mindfulness, integrity and righteousness.
Effects Of Positive Thinking: Ensure to make room for positive thoughts. Filling your mind with positive thoughts decreases the likelihood of negative thoughts creeping in. Just like keeping your plate filled with Dhansak will leave less room for the dreadful Karelu!
Simply re-framing your thoughts can create a ripple of positive effects in different aspects of one’s life. Some of these effects are increased life span; lower levels of distress, depression, anxiety and stress; improved coping skills and psychological and physical wellbeing; and increased immunity. When faced with stressful situations, positive thinkers are generally able to manage more effectively as they are likely to be more solution-oriented, whereas pessimists assume the worst and therefore are less likely to do something to change. Unlike optimists, pessimists often dwell on their frustration, making it harder to alter unfavourable situations.
If you’re wondering if one can simply change from being a negative person to a positive one, the answer is yes! Positivism and resilience can be cultivated. Break the habit of negative thinking by employing ‘Repetitive Positive Thinking’, which will lead to learned and habitual positive thinking. Let’s take this positive pledge together on this auspicious day!
Begin Your Navroz Journey To Positivity:
- Reflect. Take some time to think about your state of mind, your attitude towards situations, experiences and life in general with the aim of identifying these emotions and their triggers in your daily routine.
- Once you’ve identified these thoughts, start putting positivity into action. When you find yourself ruminating on negative thoughts again, start practising ‘Re-framing’ by adding a positive twist to it! For example, you can ask yourself, “What positive can come of this?” or “How can this experience benefit me?” or “What will I learn from this?” Such questions help you look at the positive in a negative situation and also facilitate a macro perspective and a solution-oriented approach to problematic situations.
- What greatly helps is a healthy lifestyle – surrounding yourself with positive people and also encouraging near and dear ones to accompany you on this positive journey; Social facilitation works wonders!
- Self-talk is immensely useful. During tough times, remind yourself, whatever you may be going through is a temporary setback. Life is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, if you’re down today, you’ll be back up tomorrow! Stay strong. Just like day follows the night, there will be light. You can wait for it, or you can create it. This New Year, let’s aim to create it!
So, join me on this lovely journey pledged to positivity! Navroz Mubarak!
[Place the following in a box in the center of the article and the answers to be inverted]
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