Your Happiness Factor

How to Feel More Positive: In today’s world, it can be tough to stay positive. There are so many things that can bring us down, from the news to our own personal problems. But it’s important to remember that we have the power to choose how we feel. We can choose to focus on the negative, or we can choose to focus on the positive.  My new post on my WiseWolf Coaching blog  https://wisewolfcoaching.com/how-to-feel-more-positive/   Wendy Mason Smith is a Life Coach, Career   Coach, Writer and Mentor to some very special people. You can contact her, book a  free coaching session, or find out more by phoning her at 44 (0) 7867681439 or following this link . Wendy has written a little eBook on how to get on with your boss and a book on job search - you can find her books on Amazon at Wendy's Amazon page  

Lot of people believe that optimism leads people to have better quality of life. But the findings on happiness and its medical impact over the years have not always been consistent. This article in a   New York Times Blog by Anahad O'Connor discusses the latest research. Really? Optimism Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease THE FACTS Laughter may not exactly be the best medicine. But a cheerful outlook on life may be good for your heart. So concludes new research on the impact of happiness and optimism on cardiovascular health. Scientists have known about the reverse relationship between psychological health and heart health for some time; studies show that  depression and anxiety can worsen outcomes for heart patients . But the findings on happiness and its medical impact over the years have not been as consistent. You can read more at this link

This post appeared first in the blog at our Personal Development Coaching Website Optimists see Good around them – they focus on the positive!  That means the impact of negative things is very much reduced! Pessimists – do just the opposite. They concentrate on negative events and so miss out on the full impact of lots of good things. Research suggests that whether we are optimists or pessimists depends to some extent on our genetic make up – we are born with a tendency that way. But environment and how we grow up also plays a part. Think about your own experience – as you were growing up, did those around see life in a negative or a positive way?  What effect do you think that had on you?   But we know that on the whole optimists are happier and research suggests that they are also healthier and live longer. They appear to suffer less from depression and they recover more quickly from illness. Pessimism drains you and wears you out.  You feel just plain tired of

  Most of the time we don’t think about how we think!  We just do it. Thoughts seem to drift in and drift out again without much intervention from us. And most of the time we are happy that way! But sometimes our thoughts do not make us happy.  Negative thoughts can make us feel miserable and very unhappy.  Our thoughts may keep us awake at night and they can intrude into our days.  They can make us feel angry and sad.  Sometimes the thoughts in our head leave us with unpleasant and uncomfortable feelings about ourselves, the people about us and the world in general.      Our thoughts can mean we focus on the negative even when there is very strong evidence that we are, and everything about us is, basically OK. Over the next few posts here, we are going to explore some ways that we think negatively and how you might be able to make some changes. Here are my first three ways of thinking negatively; “overgeneralising”, “labelling” and “personal

   We all have negative thoughts sometimes.   These dark thoughts (known as automatic negative thoughts) just come into our heads and, most of the time, we can just throw them off. At other times they just overwhelm us.  This is so when we are depressed. But sadly these negative thoughts can actually make us depressed.  When we get into the habit of constantly chastising ourselves and telling ourselves we are no good and we are worthless, the feelings we have in response can send us spiralling down.   These thoughts seem to feed upon each other, so deeper and deeper we go!   Thoughts like these can send us spiralling down into depression. This concept is the guiding principle behind cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy which was developed by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s If we think something often enough, we begin to believe it's true!  Then our feelings start to match what we think about ourselves. How do we raise ourselves back up a

“It is not your aptitude, but your attitude, that determines your altitude.” ~ Zig Ziglar Attitude is an issue in all job search. According to a survey of 1,000 employers by recruitment group REED, 96 per cent of bosses would take on someone who displayed the perfect mindset but lacked the complete set of skills, rather than a person with the right academic qualifications but wrong attitude. The same criteria applied to firing procedure. Two-thirds of employers surveyed said that, if push came to shove, they would keep those employees with the right attitude rather than those with a more complete skill-set. So, in your job search, it’s about combining your  transferable skills  with the right mindset.  Then demonstrating that mindset in your job search and through the recruitment process. James Reed, Chairman of REED and Paul G. Stoltz, a leading expert on measuring and strengthening human resilience, have produced a book based on the survey , “ Put Your Mindset to W