Maintaining a positive attitude is important when you’re going through a unique experience like those created by the current Coronavirus lockdown in Scotland.
There’s only so much we can do without getting into a negative state of mind.
A negative state of mind can result in you binge-watching TV, overeating or developing more severe behaviour that can affect your mental wellbeing during the Coronavirus crisis.
Most successful people will talk about the power of positive thinking and how important it is at the best of times, however, it’s often easier said than done.
From the safety of our lockdown to yours, Trust Deed Scotland® have provided our top ten tips on creating a positive mindset throughout the Covid-19 and beyond.
1. You Determine Your Reality
It’s important to realise that you determine your reality by the way you react to the outside world.
When something happens, you get to choose whether it’s a positive or negative experience and react accordingly.
If you’ve been furloughed or made redundant due to the Coronavirus – it might be the opportunity for bigger and brighter things. You choose what it will mean to you.
For example, have you always dreamed of changing your career but never had the time to commit to coursework. Now you do have surplus time, and there are fewer distractions.
2. Start Your Day Strong
Create a morning routine and get up out if your bed earlier. Othwerwise, if you oversleep and need to drag yourself out of bed, then this will create a negative mindset for the rest of the day.
Whatever task you can think of, no matter how mundane it may seem like watering flowers, ironing or washing – creating a routine reinforces positive thinking.
3. Sit Or Stand As You Mean To Go On
Think about your posture while you’re self-isolating during the Coronavirus lockdown. If you’re slumped into a chair or lying down on a couch with a remote control, or mobile phone in your hand – this will affect your mindset from there on in. An idol mind is more likely to look for a quick fix solution to Cornavirus lockdown boredom such as online gambling during the Coronavirus outbreak.
There’s nothing wrong with taking a break from your activities but subtle improvements to your posture while you’re standing up, or sitting down can make a big improvement. Or simply standing up more rather than sitting down can help too.
4. Exercise Is The Natural Feel-Good Drug
Exercise is a fantastic way to maintain a good attitude because of all the positive chemicals it releases into the blood stream.
There are many ways we can exercise in the comfort of our own homes safely during the Coronavirus lockdown; often without spending a penny and without the need of equipment.
For those of us without any health issues preventing us from exercising, there really are no excuses except for those that we create for ourselves to provide a narrative that justifies our excuse for not doing the exercise.
5. Garbage In, Garbage Out
This is a term that evolved from IT development originally. The Original concept is used to express the idea that incorrect, poor-quality input will produce a faulty output.
Therefore in the context of positive-thinking, if you’re feeding your mind with negative thoughts all day long, then it’s unavoidable that you will be feeling negative as well.
A lot of the media in Scotland, and the wider-UK including Newspapers and TV thrive on negativity and particularly across their social media and websites.
Put yourself on a negativity diet, including people and notice how much easier it is to maintain your positive attitude without getting sucked into clickbait articles, or reading and reacting to tweets and comments from online trolls.
6. Language Shapes Thoughts
Even subtle changes in your language can change the way you think and how you act.
Whenever someone greets you and asks how you’re doing, do you answer with ‘fine’ or ‘aye, not too bad?’
Spare a thought for what this language commutes to others and yourself.
Answering with ‘brilliant’, ‘fantastic’, or ‘great’ without sounding sarcastic of course, not only does this remind you that life really can be brilliant but, it subtly lifts the state of the person you’re talking to as well.
7. Read. Listen. Watch.
Now more than ever, there are millions of streams, books, podcasts and videos for you to take in from people around the world, who are inspiring and making the most out of their own self-isolation during the Coronavirus.
From the comfort of your own sofa, you can get the benefit of their positive emotions and their experience by learning how they think and what they do to create the lives they want.
You can read, listen and watch inspirational content while exercising, while eating your breakfast, cooking, cleaning. There’s always time for positivity, even if you’re committing 10-15 minutes per day to doing so, and building up.
8. Talk To Positive People
Positive thinking and self-help gurus say that you will have a similar level of health, income and lifestyle as the 5 people you spend the most time with.
So if you want to be fit, then start to talk to people already in this mindset. You can find out more about Tedtalks for example, which features influential videos from expert speakers and provides a forum for you to speak to likeminded individuals.
Want to start a business? Then seek out like-minded business owners. And if you want to be positive, make sure you’re talking to positive people. Even after the Coronavirus, we can take this attitude back to our workplaces, avoiding any of the negative conversations that
9. Show Appreciation For Others
By appreciating others for a job well done, their outfit or their smile, you start to cause a positive chain reaction. Think about the positive impact that the recent Clap for our Carers campaign has had on helping our Coronavirus keyworkers in the most difficult of situations.
Doesn’t it feel great when you receive a compliment from someone else?
If you want to receive more compliments, then by giving out and watch what happens to the people around you.
10. Stop Negative Thoughts In Their Tracks
It’s really difficult to be constantly positive and no matter how well we try, negative thoughts are going to resurface from time to time.
These may occur more frequently in the beginning but, will decrease as you put these tips into practice. When you start to notice negative thoughts, you can use a pattern interrupt to stop them in their tracks. There is a book, also available in Audible format that talks about ‘managing your inner chimp’ called The Chimp Paradox.
The idea behind this concept is to interrupt your current thought pattern and change your state.
There are many ways people can carry this out practically with experts in this field from not only here in Scotland, but throughout the world.
Negative Thoughts Resources
If you struggling with any conditions such as an anxiety disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – you might find it helpful to talk to your clinician, therapist, or other medical professionals. Many of which are still available online, or via telephone. There are an increasing number of online resources available for you and we recommend these services.
Anxiety UK: Help for Health and other forms of anxiety during Coronavirus
Beat Eating Disorders: Coronavirus and Eating Disorders
BBC: Coronavirus: How to manage Anxiety and OCD during the pandemic
OCD-UK: Tips for people managing OCD throughout the Coronavirus epidemic
SAMH – Coronavirus and your mental wellbeing
Negative Thoughts Caused by Debt Problems
Dealing with unaffordable debt is never easy at the best of times, no matter how strong we feel mentally and the stress and anxiety caused by facing these issues alone can make it very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Understandably, the negative connotations and fear of the unknown can make it extremely difficult for an individual to have a positive outlook if they have financial difficulties.
However, we often say at Trust Deed Scotland® that if you do something about your debts today, you can stop worrying about them tomorrow. And, by talking to an expert it’s easier to understand the Pros and Cons of any solutions that available to you.
Should that solution be the likes of a Trust Deed, or the Debt Arrangement Scheme then you can establish a way forward that will allow you to turn a negative situation, into a positive and start to truly consider a brighter future.