You are in the right place for five ways to deep clean your mind and boost positivity.
Hi, I'm Dr. Paul Jenkins. I'm a professional psychologist specializing in positivity,
and you get to have five specific strategies if you watch this video all the way through.
So here's your first strategy. It has to do with turning on your mind.
Practice metacognition. Now, metacognition is one of those fancy psychological terms.
If we break it down, cognition means thinking. Let's put that right here on
this level. Metacognition is, cognition is a higher level. It's thinking about
thinking. Notice in this moment that you can do this. This is really important
because metacognition creates a little space and it's in that space the choice exists.
I'll say that once more, metacognition creates a space, and in that space is where choice exists
until you see it as a choice. It's not. So this allows you to take a higher level of
choice and control over your own thinking, and either you drive your thoughts or your
thoughts drive you. So metacognition is that important first strategy to get us in position
to do everything else that I'm going to suggest. All right,
now that we've got our metacognition turned on, let's go to strategy number
two. We're going to start challenging those negative thoughts that clutter up our mind
and replacing them with positive thoughts. Now, here's what I've found about this.
As a professional psychologist, it's hard to identify our thoughts.
Because we think that our thoughts are our circumstances.
Lemme tell you what I mean by that. People come into my office, for example,
and they start to explain to me what's going on in their life. They're telling me this big story
that has all kinds of emotional connections and all kinds of energy and feeling infused into it.
Circumstances are neutral. Wait, wait. Dr. Paul, what are you talking about?
Circumstances are neutral. Look, when I say circumstances are neutral, I do not
mean that they are easy or painless. In fact, sometimes they're very painful and difficult.
I get that. But when I say circumstances are neutral, I simply mean it is what it is.
It could always be better and it could always be worse. Do you see that?
So our circumstances are kind of like the blah news report. This happened. Someone said that,
and it's just the data. But then we infuse a story around that and it's the story
that creates all of our feelings. The story represents our thoughts.
So as you start to discern what are my thoughts and what are my circumstances,
then you can start to identify which of those thoughts are causing feelings for you that
are unpleasant. For example, the thought, nobody ever listens to me at work. Okay,
well actually your circumstances are that people listen to you exactly as much as they do at work.
Now your thought is, nobody ever listens to me at work. Well,
how does that feel? Okay, so notice that if you identify the thought correctly,
then you can actually choose another thought that might serve you better. Something like,
you know, I don't really know exactly what people are thinking about me. Okay?
Does that change the energy a little bit? And it's true. You don't really know what people
are thinking about you, and so changing up that story can make a difference. Now,
I have a little warning for you on this strategy because whatever you're used to thinking is
exactly what your brain wants to continue thinking because it's just a little bit lazy and loyal.
It doesn't wanna change what it's already used to thinking. So just notice that that's going to
happen and there might be a little resistance to the new thought. One other disclaimer,
you don't have to change it. Once you start to identify your negative
thoughts it's totally a viable option to continue thinking the negative thought.
Wait, does that sound just really crazy at this moment? Because as a psychologist,
I am not here to tell you how to think. I want you to see that you are thinking,
and that thinking matters because it changes how you feel. So this is a little tricky and
that's why it's helpful to get a little coaching sometimes, or to jump on board
with some training or a program that helps you to become more aware of what your thinking is.
Now here's your third strategy, practice and cultivate gratitude.
Gratitude is the fastest way that we know of in psychology to get our mind into a positive
state and there's a lot of reasons for this. Without sharing all of the psychology behind it,
notice that you can find gratitude if you look for it. If you invite your powerful mind to find it
in whatever circumstances you're in. So let's take this up a notch, because honestly,
when people do gratitude lists or gratitude journals, which you've maybe even done yourself,
they usually do the easy form of gratitude. What I mean is you look around yourself and you
find all of the pleasant, wonderful, awesome things and you, you put those on your list.
Here's what powers it up. You look for what you're grateful for in the hard stuff.
So I don't want you to go to, you know, family and health and puppies and rainbows
and indoor plumbing. Anybody can be grateful for that. I want you to go
to whatever is kicking your trash right now. Whatever is difficult, painful, frustrating,
and ask your powerful mind to find something in that, for which you are sincerely grateful.
Put that on your list. This is what I call the gratitude power up. It's kind of like
when you go to the gym, okay, and you're doing a workout and you pick up a two
ounce weight and you start doing some reps with that in the gym. How much is that gonna help
you? Not much. You've gotta put a little weight on there in order for you to build the muscle, right?
Well, it's the same with gratitude. Put a little weight on. Go the hard route and
find what you're grateful for. Cultivate and find the gratitude in the painful stuff. I've
got two more strategies for you, but before I get to those, would you please take a moment
to subscribe. Hit that subscribe button, and while you're there, click the notification
icon so that you don't miss any of this content that's coming out to power up your positivity.
Okay. Strategy number four, surround yourself with people who will support
your agenda to be more positive. Look, there's plenty of negativity out there in the world,
and I've heard several times from people that I trust a lot that you become most like the five
people you hang out with the most. Yeah, you're starting to look around a little, aren't ya?
Who are you spending your time with? And I don't just mean in person, I mean,
who do you spend your time with online? Or in your music or in the movies that you watch. What kind
of positivity is being supported by the people and media sources that you hang out with the most?
If you really wanna power up your positivity, pay attention to the inputs.
What am I listening to? What am I watching? Who do I hang out with? You know, just the
other day as I was on my way to the office to do a web class. I had about 200 people signed up
for this web class on how to create hope on demand, and as I'm on my way to the office,
I'm thinking through some of the content and I've got the radio playing in the background.
Sometimes I have it on just to hear the traffic reports and what the weather's doing.
It's a news channel and I had to turn it off. I was feeling some negative
vibes in as I paid my attention to what was actually coming through my radio.
Have you listened to the news? It seems like if it bleeds, it leads, right?
There's so much violence and negativity and it started to pull my energy down. I felt that.
Pay attention to what the inputs are. Turn the radio off if you need to. Switch the channel.
Let's get onto some things that actually, boost and support your
positivity. Watch out for who you associate with and let you listen to.
Okay, here's your fifth strategy, and this one is going to take some practice.
Pay attention to what you say to yourself. Do you notice what the dialogue is there in your
head? What is it that you tell yourself when you look in the mirror or when you
see something that you've created or when you anticipate being in someone's presence?
What is it that you're saying to yourself? And I got a quick question for you.
If I talk to you the way you talk to you, would we still be friends or would that put
a little hitch in the relationship? Look, a lot of people go out there and they're
so kind and compassionate and forgiving and loving to everyone except for one.
Right here at home where they are so cruel and demanding and unforgiving. Enough already,
pay attention to what it is you're saying to yourself and practice that same level of
kindness and compassion and forgiveness that you're so willing to extend to other people
because you're a good person. And even when I say that, what was your response?
What did your brain say when Dr. Paul says You're a good person? Yeah. Just notice that
there's some stinking thinking going on up there. Look, the fact that you're here. The
fact that you're watching this video and that you are engaged and invested in your personal
development and the way you can share that with other people, that tells me a lot about you.
You are a good person. Start treating yourself that way in your self talk. Now, like I said,
this takes a little practice and you may need a little bit of help or assistance with it. If
that's true, get whatever help you need. Hire a coach, go to a therapist, engage with people who
will help you to see yourself more truthfully, and it will make a huge difference in your positivity.
I hope you found that helpful. Look, if you want some additional support and resources
go to the URL on the screen right here go.liveonpurposecentral.com. We've got
an entire community of people like you who are committed to their personal development,
and I am there every week doing live coaching.
Come join us, go.liveonpurposecentral.com.