Why Thinking "Positively" Does NOT Work

What's A Positive Mindset?

This question is something that I've been exploring for 11 years since the first brain tumor diagnosis and surgery when I was 21 years old. 

It's not what people think it is to have a positive mindset, even though it's not sexy. 

We hear, "be positive, think positive". 

Yeah, that sounds great and is the goal. 

But, it's really about the intention we set forth for our lives and that which we want to be true about our reality. 

That intention is what fuels the way we think, feel, and act, and all of this molds our future. There is NO right or wrong, there are just choices and outcomes manifested from those choices.

The question is, what do YOU want to be true and how can you optimize the path to ensuring the probability of your desired outcomes increases? 

It's not about perfection.

It's about consistency and FOCUS.

It's about always striving to be positive, to think positively, to see the good in experiences because there is always hidden positive learning(s) in what we would label "negative" experiences.

That doesn't dismiss the fact that we're human beings and that we feel things that are undesirable and uncomfortable or painful. The more we can accept that we feel things, were flawed as human beings, and it's okay to fall as long as we try to get back up, the more we can lessen the baggage that weighs us down and distorts what we believe is possible for ourselves. 

The thing that I've learned through reflection and all that I've gone all-in on now, and has brought such profound benefit to any aspect of my life, is to be defined by what's in our mind and what's in a heart as this can become more compelling than any external negative experience. 

This means, FOCUS on what we truly want to be true about our lives rather than our circumstances in the moment.

This thought process is what saved my life, literally (multiple brain tumors) and figuratively by allowing me to create the life I live today.  

So many times, whether it was the brain tumor diagnoses, injuries, financial struggles, breakups, depression, whatever it was. There are so many moments where I could have been defined by that circumstance and built the belief that that's who I am. 

You know, I'm depressed, I'm broke, I'm sick, I'm a failure, I'm whatever. 

But, it was the vision I held in my mind that I was working towards that allowed me to get up, to try again, and to see what I could be grateful for. 

To me, that's the idea behind a "positive perspective".

It's not about perfection. 

It's not about what is currently true. 

It's about being MINDFUL of what we can be grateful for now, which is the fact that YOU ARE ALIVE, to start with, and if you're watching this if you're able to do things if you're able to breathe, you're able to see, hear, taste, smell, then you're alive and YOU ARE WINNING.

For many people just getting out of bed could be the first step, but really reflecting on who you are and where you are that you're living human being is key. 

That is a starting ground. And again, it's not about things happening outside of our control. 

It's about how we CHOOSE to respond to those things. 

We all can choose how to move forward in life. So it's not about being positive all the time.

I'm a human being. 

I'm not always positive, but the intention is to learn from the times that we would call downtimes or failures or heartache or whatever it's to learn from and to pick ourselves up it's to move forward, to grow, and to see a positive light that we're working towards. 

And with that comes a more, I'd say magnified feeling of positive perspective. 

Life can be what you make it and to move forward with the intention and the vision you have in your mind that defines you, not your circumstances and not the noise you hear. 

Not anything else other than what's in your heart and what's in your mind. 

If you can take that and move forward, you'll see that the opportunity to be positive more often will show up in your life. 

And by nature of that, you'll feel that positivity more time than not. 

When you have this focus, you'll act upon that and you'll see your world change inside and out as what we focus on EXPANDS. 

What are you FOCUSING on?

Josh P.