“The Happiness Of Your Life Depends On The Quality Of Your Thoughts”

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. This quote from Marcus Aurelius is a great reminder that ultimately you are the person who controls your happiness. While external factors undoubtedly have an effect on your life, with the right mindset you can overcome anything.

It all comes down to your attitude. How you view the world. You can be in a great situation, but if you think you have it rough, your reality is negative. And if you have a difficult situation, but genuinely believe that you have it good, then that is your reality.

We have all had someone look at our situation before and tell us how it is different than we believe it is. Especially when they show us how it is better, we think “oh, I never saw it this way.” And then we adjust how we view our life. And just through talking to someone else, your outlook changes. As a result, you feel much better.

As we have noted, your mind has much more ability to influence your well being than your body does. But thinking positive thoughts does not mean denying reality. And it does not mean viewing everything that happens to you as a positive. It simply means seeing the silver lining, the positive that you can gain through overcoming an obstacle. Or understanding that even though you have it rough, there are things in your life for you to be grateful for.

While on a day to day basis, just thinking positive thoughts might not seem to make much difference, it definitely does. Positive thinking has been linked to better stress management and coping skills, better psychological and physical health, and a longer lifespan. You are also less at risk for a cardiovascular disease related death. Even if you have to trick yourself, thinking positively only has benefits.

Ok, positive thinking obviously helps you. But how do you get into the mindset of positive thinking? Especially when you are facing real challenges? The first step is to notice your thoughts. Notice the types of thoughts you have every day, and make a conscious effort to reframe them. You will not always succeed in this. But the more you practice, the more you can start making your thoughts more positive.

You can also think and write about the things that you are grateful for. Do this so that you have a constant reminder about what you should be happy about in your life. And finally, give yourself positive self talks. They don’t have to be corny or overboard. They can just be simple things like “you can do this,” “one day at a time,” or “I am proud of myself for doing x.”

Obviously even doing these things is easier said than done. And they are easy to suggest by someone who has challenges but not life altering challenges happen to him. Someone who has had to deal with a death in the family, terminal cancer, a layoff, or so many other things, cannot be expected to as easily adopt these suggestions as someone who simply is stressed for a test.

And to be honest, they shouldn’t be expected to. All that I’d say is that thinking positive thoughts when you can, can help make life a little more bearable. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. While there are many other things that affect your life, the quality of your thoughts is the thing that affects your life that you can most control.