Early health psychology research showed that being more optimistic than pessimistic you are more likely to change your behaviors.
If you think you can never do something – like stop smoking, exercise more, have more joy in life, then you will likely not take any action to make a change towards what you want. Makes sense. If we believe we will fail, that nothing we do will make a difference then we are more likely to not take any action to change.
In health psychology terms we feel helpless/hopeless. Yet what if you could shift your thinking, make simple changes, would life feel more positive?
The above image is something I shared when I taught grad students at CIIS (California Institute of Integral Studies).
I am offering a new 2 week program exploring how our thoughts affect our cells and practices that support making change. It starts on Wed. May 8. Check it out.