Developing a positive mental attitude

LIFE Life is full of events that are beyond our control, however we do have control over our response to these events!

Recap from last lesson … A positive mental attitude is the real foundation for optimal health An optimist is somebody who often sees and interprets their life in a positive way. A pessimist is somebody who often sees and interprets their life in a negative way. We completed a series of questions to determine whether you were an optimist. Now to interpret the results …

Permanence When a pessimist is faced with a challenge, they tend to view these events as permanent. An optimist will view challenges (bad things) as temporary. What are you with respect to permanence? PmB score (permanence when bad things happen)? PmG score (permanence when good things happen)?

Pervasiveness This is a term that refers to the idea that an individual will generalize a situation versus being specific. For example pessimists tend to say “I ALWAYS get treated badly in relationships” vs an optimist who would say “I was treated badly in this particular relationship” What are you with respect to pervasiveness? PvB score (pervasiveness when bad things happen) PvG score (pervasiveness when good things happen)

Hope Our level of hope is a combination of our level of permanence and pervasivness and is a very important score! Your hope score is PvB + PmB scores

Personalization When bad things happen you can either blame yourself (internalize) or blame beyond our control (externalize) While we have to take responsibility for some situations, people who tend to externalize blame, tend to have higher self-esteem and are more optimistic. What are you with respect to personalization? PsB (personalization when bad things happen) PsG (personalization when good things happen)

Your overall scores To calculate your overall scores we divide the results into two categories – your response when bad things happen and your response when good things happen. Bad events score (PmB + PvB + PsB) Good events score (PmG + PvG + PsG)

Again … Life is full of events that are beyond our control. We do however have control over our response to these events!

Positive mental attitude… We discussed earlier that there are 7 steps to develop and maintaining a positive mental attitude. Become an optimist (refer to steps 2 and 3 to help you in this process!) Become aware of self talk. Ask better questions. ……

2. Become aware of self talk! Our self talk makes an impression on our sub-conscious mind. What you say to yourself in times of stress should meet the following criteria It should be positive or encouraging. It should be focused on yourself rather than the situation or the others involved in the situation

Scenarios What positive self talk could you use in the following situations?

IPOD Day! You have been asked (and are trying to!) RUN for the entire 10 minutes on IPOD day. What might be running through your head (not positive!)? What self talk would more likely help you to be successful?

Test Stress! You are in the process of writing a unit test and you seem to have forgotten everything that you studied. What might be running through your head (not positive!)? What self talk would more likely help you to be successful?

Parent stress! Your parent is very stressed out and is taking it out on you and your siblings by yelling and screaming insults and frustrations. What might be running through your head (not positive!)? What self talk would more likely help you handle this situation?

Relationship stress You are at a dance and your partner (boyfriend) seems to be giving your best friend more attention than he is giving to you. What might be running through your head (not positive)? What self talk would more likely help you to handle this situation?

Creating a positive mental attitude … Step #3 Ask better questions!

3. Ask better questions Whatever question you ask your brain, your brain will answer! For example: “Why does this always happen to me?” “Why am I always so stupid?” Better questions would be: “What do I need to learn so that this will never happen again?” “What can I do to make this situation better?”

Typical questions from somebody who is depressed … “Why am I always depressed?” “Why do things go so wrong for me?” “Why am I so unhappy?”

Better questions … “What do I need to do to get more enjoyment and happiness out of my life?” “What do I need to commit to doing in order to have more happiness and energy in my life?” If you want more energy, happiness and excitement in your life, ask these questions on a consistent basis!

Cue Cards Homework Create 7 cue cards with the following questions on them: What am I most happy about in my life right now? Why does that make me happy? How does that make me feel? What am I most excited about in my life right now? Why does that make me excited? How does that make me feel?

Cue cards cont’d … What am I most grateful about in my life right now? Why does that make me grateful? How does that make me feel? What am I enjoying most in my life right now? What about that do I enjoy? How does that make me feel? What am I committed to in my life right now? Why am I committed to that? How does that make me feel?

Cue cards cont’d Who do I love? (starting close and moving out) What must I do today to achieve my long term goal?