According to a 2013 Associated Press survey, 80% of America’s adults were struggling with unemployment, poverty or near poverty. That’s a lot of unhappy people.
Unhappy people tend to have unhappy thoughts. Happy people tend to have happy thoughts.
Cognitive psychologists call this tendency to see the world through either a negative or positive lens, mood congruency.
According to the latest science, negativity causes tunnel vision, limiting creativity and inhibiting your ability to think clearly. When the lens through which you view the world is negative, you see nothing but problems and become blind to opportunities and solutions.
If you’re struggling financially, a negative mental outlook acts like gasoline, fueling the flames of negativity and perpetuating a life of financial struggle.
Conversely, a positive mental outlook enhances creative problem solving. It gives you the mental tools to lift yourself up in order to overcome your obstacles.
But how do you flip the switch on your mental outlook?
Gratitude is the gateway to optimism and a positive mental outlook. Gratitude forces you to become aware of the good things about your life: my car started today, I was able to feed my family, I have a roof over my head, I’m healthy, I’m alive, I have a loving family, etc.
When you focus on the good that is in your life, instead of the bad, you force your brain to shift from negative to positive.
If you make gratitude a daily habit, eventually your positive mental outlook will overpower your negative mental outlook.
Gratitude changes the lens through which you view your world, from negative to positive. And when that happens you’ll begin to see solutions to your problems. Ideas will pop into your head that will help you climb your way out of your financial worries.
Expressing gratitude every day is not some pseudo, new age B.S. Gratitude is the gateway to optimism and a positive mental outlook. It’s the means to transforming your life from one filled with limitations to one with no limits.
About Thomas C. Corley
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