Positive Mental Attitude

What is PMA?

Positive Mental Attitude:

Everything in the world can be viewed in a positive or negative way. A chair, a phone, a situation, a person even the sun can be seen in a positive or negative way. If we are able to choose a positive perspective of how we see things we can control how we feel.

Positive and negative is like having hot or cold, dark or light, they are opposites. Although they are opposites, they can also compliment each other. For example, on a hot day we feel relief from the heat with a cool breeze but the cool breeze would not feel so good on a cold day. A hot drink would be great in the cold weather but may not be your first choice when walking in the hot sun. We always want to be positive and the practical exercise at the end of this video will help you to practice and create a habit that will become automatic.

Positive Mental Attitude and

The Reticular Activating System

In the video about the immune system, we learned how negative thoughts can affect us mentally and physically. It is hard to imagine how what we think can affect our bodies but the good news is that positive thoughts can also have a good effect on our body.

We have the ability to choose what we focus on. When we are forced to focus on something which can make us feel bad we can choose how we respond. Sometimes we react without thinking and this can result in either a positive or negative outcome but if we can stop ourselves from reacting, we can think and decide how to contribute to the outcome and ultimately, we are take control and act in a way that can us make us happier the outcome a positive one. 

The Reticular Activating System:

We have a part of the brain which filters the information we receive through our senses called the "Reticulated Activating System". There is so much more information around us which we are unaware of because of this filter. It's important because without the reticular activating system we would be overloaded with information. If we believe something the Reticular Activating System will look for information that will prove that belief to be right.

This filter allows us to function everyday filtering out unnecessary information allowing us the freedom to pass through the world with our beliefs. For example if we believe that everyone is looking at us, the Reticular Activating System will filter information around us to prove that people are looking at us. If we believe we are confident, even if we are not, and stand tall believing we are normal, the Reticular Activating System we will start to notice people act as if we are confident and 'normal'.

This system can work very well for us when we are positive because it will look for positive things. But if we are negative it will also look for negative things. This automatic system is our believe filter so it is most important what we believe.

Everything can be seen in a positive or negative way:

For example a chair can negative because it doesn't have arms or it's not comfortable or it doesn't have a back to rest against. Being positive, you can focus on positive things about the chair like it is a nice colour OR it's easy to move around OR just that you have a chair. It's better to have a chair than have to sit on the floor!

Another example can be a phone. It can be negative because it doesn't have a good camera OR it's too small OR there's not enough storage but being a positive person we think of positive things like, the phone is very helpful if I need to speak with someone OR it can tell me exactly where to go to find a place when I'm lost OR I can use my phone as a torch when I'm in a dark place.

A situation can feel negative because it is not what you expected or wanted, it can be hard to see the positive but it's there. You may need to see it from someone else's perspective but at the very least it will be an experience you will learn from. It's the same with people, we can't choose what they do or how they respond because they have their own mind. We can accept that they are the way and find the best way to deal with the situation which often starts with finding the positives.

Even the sun that our planet circles can be positive or negative. The negative view can be, it's too hot or it's not good for your skin or it is too bright when we want to get more sleep and it peeps out from between the curtains. The positive can be that it gives us day (and night) OR that plants take it's energy and give us oxygen which we need to live OR that the sun dries up the wet puddles after rain and makes the ground dry so we can have a picnic or just play outside.

Practical Exercise to Be More Positive

Now you have some examples you can try this exercise for yourself. You can use the exercise sheet in the book and find three things to test.

Pick anything you can think of. It doesn't have to be in the room, use your imagination and think about one thing. Got it? Now think about the negative things about it. Then think about two or three positive things. Let someone else choose something and we can all think of some negative and more importantly, the positive things about it.

Write your answers in your workbook.

Well Done for learning about this skill!

You can now return back to the workbook

to complete the next exercise or activity.