Skip to main content

The Stridi Guide To Positive Thinking

Hey everyone, welcome back to Stridi Towers. It’s Matt here.

Our last piece focused on keeping busy if you’re bored, or at a loose end. Filling time can be very hard, and so the idea behind some of those activities was simply to fill a few seconds of your time. Sometimes a few seconds can change your mood significantly.

Today I’ll be talking a bit more about changing your mindset. There are loads of things you can do. Altering your thought process is probably quite a scary thought, but here’s the good news: you don’t have to do it all at once. Nobody is expecting you to have an entirely new thought process within the next 5 minutes. 

Photo by Kelvin Valerio from Pexels

It’s simply a case of taking it day by day. Maybe trying one new activity a day or reframing an event to see it in a positive light.

Ultimately, it’s all about creating choices for yourself. Different ways to live your life. Whether it’s the basic stuff, like what to have for breakfast, or other things, like picking an evening activity to pass the time. Although we can’t necessarily control what mood we wake up in, we can certainly influence it, in order to increase our serotonin levels throughout the day.

This is a blog post, and so I’ll keep things as simple as possible. Let’s start with a basic example of reframing a situation: It’s raining heavily. On one side of the world, you’ve got a sports team who are on the verge of winning an important match, and a rain break would halt their momentum. Then, somewhere else, you’ve got an office worker who sees the weather as the perfect excuse to order a pizza for dinner and treat themselves to a glass of fizz. No need to pop into the shop on the way home tonight.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

Same weather, two very different perspectives.

Situations like that can be used to improve your mindset. If it’s raining, you’ll get wet if you go outside. It will also mean feeling relieved and happy when you return home to a warm house, dry clothes and a warm beverage. There are multiple ways to look at any situation.

You’ve got an important exam tomorrow and so you’re up late going over your notes. You may not sleep well, but you wake up to a “Good Luck!” message from a friend or family member, and you make it to the exam hall in good time so that you can prepare mentally. It all goes well, and the sun is shining when you come out. 

Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV from Pexels

Let’s look at what is within your control when it comes to exams:

  • You can revise beforehand, both on your own and with a friend.
  • You can go to bed early the night before. 

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
 

  • You can go for a walk, have a coffee, do some exercise, or meet your friend beforehand to test each other or review notes.
  • You can send “Good Luck” messages, which are likely to give you a mood boost. And the chances are you’ll get a few back.
  • You can meditate, look up mindfulness techniques online, or relaxation methods.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

  • You can get to the exam hall/room in plenty of time. Familiarizing yourself with your surroundings is often very useful for your focus and mindset.

Sure, exams can be very scary. But if we focus on the things within our control, then we will be in control.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

 

Right, we’ll leave that there for today! We’ll be back soon with some more tips and advice.

In the meantime, get in touch via the usual places. Have a good one!

Matt

 

Follow Matt - @Matt_jl_24

 

Follow us on Twitter @Stridi

Facebook @StridiApp

Instagram @Stridi_health


 

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Perception: The Map Is Not The Territory

  Hi everyone, It’s Matt here, and I’m back to share some more tips with you. Today I’d like to discuss perception.  As mentioned last time, my specialist area is NLP – Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which is similar to CBT. A classic NLP phrase is: The map is not the territory.   This phrase means that everyone’s perception is different. Two people can look at the same thing and see something different. For example, you might look out of your kitchen window and immediately spot your neighbours bright red car, followed by a tree which is swaying in the wind. Whereas a friend or family member might look at seemingly the exact same view, but not even notice the car until you point it out to them. Another example, you could make someone a cup of tea, and while one person might rejoice at getting their caffeine fix, another might complain that it's not in their favourite cup and the tea is too milky.  It’s all about perception. Your mind can “delete” things that it doesn’t d
Post a Comment
Read more

Stop Putting it off - How to Create Habits For Success

  We all have some poor habits, whether it's: Eating junk. Having one too many lemonades on a school night. Playing that game on our phone at times when we shouldn't. It can become an unpleasant cycle of Cue, Craving, Response and Reward.   But.... did you know that we can use these stages to our advantage?  Habits aren’t just a part of your life – an annoying tendency that you can’t seem to shake. Or a surprising trait that you developed out of nowhere. Habits are developed – often accidentally, but we can also create habits. Creating a habit is very much like learning a new skill. We keep practicing until it becomes natural, or until we reach our desired level of competence. With a new skill, perhaps you just want to be able to perform the activity successfully in one take? Or maybe you want to be able to do it naturally, with barely any awareness that it’s happening.   Developing a habit is similar. The activity in question may be a skill or activity that you'
Post a Comment
Read more

Simple Tips For A Happier, Healthier Life

  Breathe in….. breathe out. Prolong the exhale.    Your breath is powerful. It has the power to improve your mood, your mental health and the way that your body functions. That sounds so easy and simple, doesn’t it? There are loads of other simple ways to improve your life. Not just from the comfort of your own home, but from the comfort of your own mind, your own body. Let’s start with your morning routine:   Try and go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time each day. A few minutes either way doesn’t really matter, so if you’re keen on the snooze button then don’t panic just yet. When you wake up, have a glass of warm water with a squeeze of lemon – you can use up to half a lemon if desired, but just a few drops are great too. (Warm water is beneficial by itself too, if you’re not good with the bitter taste of lemons.) Lemon water has a whole host of benefits. From helping to detox the body, to being a natural mood enhancer. Who needs that morning cuppa, huh?
Post a Comment
Read more