Estelle Coombe-Heath on The Power of Positive Thinking: Techniques to Rewire Your Mindset for Success

Have you ever woken up in a panic with the stress of your to-do list, so many things to achieve, and not sure how you will get through it? That was me for many years. I woke up with the feeling and the idea of stress in my mind, this affected how I felt in my body, tired and often didn’t want to get out of bed. So I would go about my day and feel tension in my shoulders, a heaviness in my stomach as I kept thinking about how much I had to do. This continued for many years and it started to affect my health. I would struggle with constant migraines, back pain and shoulder pain.

I knew something had to change.

After many months of trial and error, I realised that I started my day in a very negative way. I started my way with stressful thoughts, and in doing that, it completely dictated how I felt, how I showed up in the world. I kept playing small. I kept hiding behind my stress, and I would never put myself out there because my mindset was just not in the right place.

It took me many years to understand that changing my mindset and my thinking is what is going to support my productivity and how I show up in the world.

Creating a positive mindset is key. And not the easiest thing to achieve when starting out, but believe me, it gets easier.

What is a positive mindset?

A positive mindset, focuses on optimism and constructive thinking and the belief that challenges can be overcome. It’s seeing the good in the situations or maintaining hope and resilience in the face of adversity.

People with a positive mindset tend to approach life with an open mind, embracing opportunities for growth and learning from failures, and not letting their fears drive their entire well being.

It’s about starting to use your words in a positive way that supports how you might want to feel at the end of the day.

And this all starts with the power of our thoughts.

How do we achieve a positive mindset?

It all starts with positive thinking,  which means we need to catch our current thinking and notice if that supports how you would like to feel. Also notice how those thoughts make you feel emotionally and how those emotions drive your behavior. For example, if you are stressed, maybe you feel butterflies in your stomach. This makes your shoulders round, your body all hunched. Eventually you might feel short of breath or have a panic attack, because your body is not in an optimal posture for breathing.

How to implement positive thinking: 

Recognise negative thoughts: 

Research has shown that the average person thinks around 60 000 thoughts a day, 80% of people’s thoughts tend to be negative and 95% of thoughts are repetitive from the day before.

Focusing on negative thoughts can significantly increase stress and anxiety, and depression.

Write down your thoughts and notice if it is positive or negative and shift the thoughts that don’t serve you. The thoughts that drain your energy and stop you from starting the healthy habits you always promise but keep avoiding.

Next is to choose another thought. We don’t have to think completely in the opposite direction, but we can think an uplifting thought instead.

Next time you hear a negative thought in your mind, challenge that thought and replace  it with something more positive.

Practicing gratitude 

Practicing gratitude is an incredible way to help us see the good in the world. I started a daily gratitude practice by writing down three things that I’m grateful for every single day. Now when I wake up in the mornings, I tend to focus on what I’m grateful for instead of the stress of my day.

Gratitude shifts your focus from what is wrong with what is going well. Often we can fixate on the negative and forget how many blessings we have in our life, we forget how incredible our day is and just how beautiful nature is. So switching to gratitude can help rewire our brain to notice the positive more often.

Surround yourself with positivity 

Forget about the people spreading office gossip. Stop listening to the news as you wake up in the morning. Turn your attention to something positive instead of looking at your social media accounts.

Surround yourself with positive, supportive people, and remove yourself from toxic relationships or negative news.

We can’t choose what’s in the news, but we can engage in uplifting content, in books or podcasts that promote growth and joy.

Celebrate your small wins 

This might sound silly, but it’s an incredible way of supporting positive thinking. Sometimes it’s an achievement just to get out of bed in the morning, and that needs to be celebrated. I like to say to myself, “you’ve done a great job today. Well done. I know you were tired, but you still did it.”

When we start celebrating our minor successes, we train our brains to seek out positivity and acknowledge our progress of how far we’ve come.

Shifting to a positive mindset is a journey that requires awareness, practice and patience.

By recognising and reframing your negative thoughts, embracing gratitude and celebrating your wins, you can gradually cultivate a more optimistic outlook on life.

For me, developing a positive mindset was a game changer. I now run a successful yoga studio

I’m a best selling author and I help individuals create positive mindsets every single day.

Small, consistent actions can lead to significant changes in how you experience the world, making challenges more manageable and opportunities for growth more visible. Remember, transforming your thinking is a powerful tool for embracing your well being and creating a life filled with more positivity and purpose.

What is one small change you can make today to shift your mindset towards more positive thinking?

By Estelle Coombe-Heath

Author Bio: 

Stel Coombe-Heath is an expert in yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and energy healing, guiding individuals in incorporating these transformative practices into their daily routines. With a passion for holistic well-being, Stel helps people cultivate balance, inner peace, and personal growth by integrating spiritual tools that enhance mental, emotional, and physical health.