January 2013 by Lori Burkeen

Positive Thinking and Career Goals

Brain Scans of Happy People Help Explain Their ‘Rose Tinted” Outlook

Positive Thinking Positive Thinking Helps Your Brain Work Better www.everestonline.edu

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A Monthly Newsletter How Positive Thinking Helps Your Brain Work Better

www.livestrong.com

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www.guardian.co.uk/ science Page 3

How To Raise Children How Positive Thinking With A Positive Attitude Helps Your Brain Work Better www.ehow.com Your Attitude Can Page 4 Influence Your Educational Experience Positive Attitude Vs. Negative Attitude www.everestonline.edu www.livestrong.com Page 5

only recently have scientists discovered that a positive attitude can actually affect the way your brain processes information.

HOW POSITIVE THINKING HELPS YOUR BRAIN WORK BETTER Even before popular minister and author Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote the best-selling The Power of Positive Thinking back in 1952, many people believed that faith in yourself was the first step to success in any venture. However, Starlight Brain Integration, llc

Issue No 4 - January 2013

Researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) recently set up an experiment to see how the human brain reacts to making mistakes. The experiment was simple: Volunteers were asked to identify the middle letter in a fiveletter sequence such as MMMMM or NNMNN. Because the task was so simple, there was ample opportunity for the mind to wander, and the subjects to make mistakes. Recording the volunteers' brain activity using sensor-laden headsets, the scientists were able to track brain activity during this process. Here's what the MSU researchers found:

“A positive mental attitude is the starting point of all riches, whether they be riches of a material nature or intangible riches“ Napoleon Hill

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★ When people realize they've made a mistake, there's a burst of activity from certain areas of the brain. (One of the scientists calls this the "Oh, crap!" response.) ★ A fraction of a second later, there's another burst of activity as the brain searches for ways to correct the mistake. ★ People who believe they can learn from their mistakes and people who do not have the same "Oh, crap!" response upon making an error. However, people with a positive attitude have a stronger second response than those who believe there's a limit to what they can learn. ★ The stronger the second response, the more attentive a person becomes and thus the more likely to seek correct solutions to problems. 1

Positive Thinking and Career Goals To reach your destination, you must know where you want to go and formulate a path to get there. Setting goals increases the likelihood of taking your career to the next level. Even the best-laid plans encounter the occasional bump in the road. Your frame of mind can make the difference between reaching your goals and failure.

Self-Talk The little voice inside your head can cause a lot of negativity. You know the one. It plants doubt and causes you to second-guess yourself. You can use positive self-talk to aid you in your success. Instead of dwelling on "what-ifs" or doubting your abilities, change the way you mentally speak to yourself. Changing the mental dialogue you engage in goes a long way in building self-confidence and helping you achieve your career goals.

Weed Out the Toxins

People who hold a negative attitude tend to inspire the same negativity in others. If you have people in your life who put down your thoughts or feed your self-doubt, take a step away from them. Surround yourself with people who support your goals and bolster your self-esteem

Moving Into Action When you think in a more positive manner, you call yourself to action. Instead of wallowing in all the reasons you cannot reach your career goals, change the way you approach the situation. Positive thinking leads you to ask yourself how you can get around an obstacle. Looking for solutions under the belief that solutions do exist makes a huge difference in the outcome of your struggles.

Get More Done Gossiping in the workplace causes lost productivity and tension between colleagues. Adopting a positive attitude allows you to remove yourself from the water cooler gossip and reduces your stress level. While co-workers spend time gossiping and spreading negativity, you can use your time to get more work done. Your efforts will not go unnoticed, and it could mean a promotion or a new door open to you.

Re-frame Your Perspective

At times, you cannot change the circumstances or avoid a problematic situation. Choose to re-frame your perspective. Making a decision to view something in the best possible light enables you to control your response to a situation over which you possess no control. For example, choosing to view criticism as an opportunity to learn can lead to personal and career growth. Re-framing your perspective allows you to let go of issues falling outside of your control and frees up your energy for more productive things. Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can ~ Louisa May Alcott Starlight Brain Integration, llc

Brain Scans of Happy People Help Explain Their 'Rose-Tinted' Outlook

The Brains of People With a Happy Disposition Seem to Respond More Strongly to Positive Things in Their Environment The brains of happy people are tuned to notice and enjoy the positives in life that may pass others by, according to research that may explain why some folk seem to go about wearing rose-tinted spectacles.

The scans showed that all the volunteers' brains reacted the same way to negative and neutral images, with negative pictures causing more arousal in the amygdala than neutral ones.

Brain scans of volunteers who scored high on a standard test for happiness showed activity in regions that reinforced their happy dispositions and set them up for a "cycle of positivity", scientists said.

But the most striking result was in the happiest volunteers, who had scored five and above on a seven-point happiness test. When they saw positive images, the activity in their amygdalas rose much The positive outlook on life was not a reflection of higher than it did in the less happy people. naivety or ignorance of the world's threats and The findings were reported at the Society for dangers, they said, but an enhanced response to Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington DC. positive events and the opportunities around them. "People with rose-tinted glasses are more responsive Psychologists Wil Cunningham and Tabitha Kirkland at Ohio State University uncovered the effect while scanning the brains of 38 volunteers as they looked at a series of pictures designed to evoke positive, negative or neutral feelings.

to positive things in the environment. But it's not at the expense of the negatives in life. They're not seeing the positives in everything, but they see the positives where they can find them," Dr Cunningham said.

The negative images included an unhappy person sitting in a chair and someone being threatened with a gun, while positive images included a basket of kittens and a bunch of flowers. Among the neutral images were patterns and household objects.

"They extract both types of meaning from the world and probably have a better life because of it."

The amygdala guides other neural processes, including attention and perception, to deal with the threats and opportunities that a person encounters. The scientists focused on part of the brain called the Because happy people notice and respond more amygdala, an almond-shaped region used in early strongly to joyful objects and events in the world, processing of information about the world around us their increased sensitivity helps reinforce their and emotional reactions to it. happiness over time, Cunningham added. Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world ~ Desmond Tutu Starlight Brain Integration, llc

How to Raise Children with a Positive Attitude

B BR R A A I IN NP PO O W WE ER R

Some children just always seem to see the clouds instead of the sun. While being negative happens to all of us at one time or another, feeling gloomy all of the time is unhealthy. As parents, we want to help our children learn to have a more realistic and balanced point of view about the positive and negative aspects of life. Here are ways for parents to raise children with a positive attitude. Evaluate Your Own Attitude Experts agree that many of our personality traits are inborn, but some are also the result of environment. If you have a child who is leaning toward being pessimistic instead of optimistic, you should first examine your own attitude. Parents and caregivers have the biggest influence on how children perceive the world. Do you dwell on the negative instead of the positive? You may not even know you are doing it, so pay attention to your own attitude to see if that is where your child is learning it. Look at Your Child's Experiences Your child's experiences may also be a factor in turning him into a negative thinker. Life experiences such as a death in the family, divorce, poverty, or loss of a good friend can contribute to your child's pessimistic approach to life. While you cannot control certain aspects of your child's life, you can give your child the support and attention he needs to get through the experiences without giving up his positive thinking. Refrain from Using Negative Labels If one child has a sunny disposition while the other is gloomy don't point this out to your child. Children tend to become the very person you tell them they are. If you say "You are the gloomy one in our family," your child will eventually take on that role permanently. Be an Example of Optimism Children learn what they see, so if they see you act positive after a disheartening situation, they learn to do the same.

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Teach Your Child to be Optimistic, yet Realistic at the Same Time We all experience disappointments in our lives and we aren't always going to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. When your child experiences a setback, like not making the team or failing a test he studied for, tell him that setbacks can be learning experiences too. Working a little harder to make the team next time or getting help with the subject he is having trouble with can be the way to succeed next time. Help Boost your Child's Self-Esteem Selfesteem and a positive attitude go hand-inhand. Give your child opportunities to try new activities and praise him for his successes. Start with little things when he is young, like having him help fold towels or do dishes and give positive responses to his good work. As children grow older notice when they do a job right or get a good grade on a paper in school and let them know how proud you are of them. Refrain from Criticism Criticizing you child will not motivate him to try harder; it will only lead to negative attitudes. Try helping your child with the activity or school project that is frustrating him and give encouragement when he reaches his goal. Even if a goal isn't attained, remind your child that he tried and did the best he could. Your child will most likely not excel at everything he does, but remind him that all experiences are learning experiences. Look on the Bright Side Optimism can be learned at any age, so if you feel you are modeling pessimistic behavior, try looking for the bright side of things more often. It's a proven fact; on the average optimistic people live longer and are healthier.

Positive Attitude Vs Negative Attitude Much of your behavior depends on your attitudes. If your attitudes are negative, you can expect to be vulnerable to addictions and psychosomatic disorders, and the resulting lack of focus and concentration may degrade every area of your life. A positive attitude can be developed by monitoring and disciplining your thoughts on a moment-by-moment basis.

Positive Thinking

Negative Thinking

Misconception

Ways to Change

Hara Estroff Marano, editor in chief of "Psychology Today" magazine, reports that the average person generates 25,000 to 50,000 thoughts per day. Beginning in 1952 with Norman Vincent Peale's book, "The Power of Positive Thinking," a large school of thought has developed around the idea that happiness and unhappiness are largely byproducts of thoughts and "negative thinking" results in a variety of psychological and physiological disorders. The remedy, according to these thinkers, is to exercise control over your thoughts to achieve health, serenity, an enhanced sense of wellbeing and increased personal effectiveness at work and at home.

Attitudes are organized collections of thoughts about a particular issue. To think positively, you need to eliminate certain negative thinking patterns that nearly everyone indulges in at least some of the time. These include the four major types of negative thinking identified by the Mayo Clinic: filtering, p e r s o n a l i z i n g , catastrophizing and polarizing. Filtering refers to psychologically screening out the encouraging aspects of complex scenarios. Personalizing means automatically blaming yourself every time something bad happens. Catastrophizing is expecting the worst possible outcome in any situation, and polarizing is a type of black-andwhite thinking that defines failure as any result short of perfection.

Misconceptions about positive thinking abound, probably because of its misleading name. A more accurate name for the type of positive thinking e s p o u s e d b y psychologists may be "constructive thinking." Positive thinkers reject groundless optimism in favor of brutal realism, yet approach unpleasant realities with a problemsolving attitude rather than a "don't look for a match and simply curse the darkness" mentality. The Mayo Clinic says positive thinking can result in longer life, elevated moods, lowered stress, a boosted immune system, a stronger sense of well-being and better coping skills during stressful events. Because of the connection between the body and mind, the psychological benefits of positive thinking tend to reinforce its physical benefits, and vice versa.

To change a significant portion of your 25,000 to 50,000 thoughts a day to positive thoughts, you will have to train your mind. The first step is to know that you have the ability to seize control of your mind, according to Marano. You will then have to train yourself into a moment- by-moment awareness of your own thinking patterns by frequently asking yourself, "What am I thinking right now?" Once you develop awareness of your own thinking, you should identify negative thinking patterns and replace them with encouraging, realistic and constructive thoughts--redefining a near-perfect job as a success rather than an imperfect failure, for example.

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Your Attitude Can Influence Your Educational Experience In school, there are a lot of opportunities to make mistakes, and chances are you'll take advantage of many of them. But mistakes are a part of the learning process. As the MSU researchers discovered, believing you can learn from your mistakes can train your brain to become a better problem-solving machine. When you believe you will learn, you can learn. Or, as Henry Ford once put it, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.

Positive Attitude Tip Learn to always be grateful for what you have. It's a well-known fact among successful people that having gratitude will get you more than never being satisfied. There's nothing wrong with having dreams and goals and desiring more out of life, but don't forget to be grateful for what you have already. Those who are never satisfied or grateful with what they have get into a "needy" or

"poverty" mindset, where they think they never have have anything, and are doomed to never having anything. A positive attitude attracts positive actions. Gratitude attracts positive energy. Starlight Brain Integration