Heart attack is one of most dangerous serial killers in the world and women are more prone to becoming its victims. We all know that this killer prefers attacking those with an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle. But did you know that negative thinking also makes you more vulnerable to heart attacks? Yes, your habit of constantly worrying, expecting the worst, fretting over every small thing can actually invite heart diseases into your life!

How does negative thinking affect your heart’s health?

Researchers at the University of Kentucky found that patients who had negative thinking patterns, such as thoughts about not being able to justify their own existence, were at higher risk for developing depression. Heart patients with depression were shown to have more complications, including a higher risk of death!

Your negative thoughts increase your stress levels and prevent you from focusing on attaining good health. When you are more focused on how unfit you are or how unfulfilling your life is, you are unlikely to take steps to improve your health. A negative thought pattern promotes a pessimistic and fatalist attitude.

Spiritually, negative thoughts are believed to affect the heart directly. Symbolically your heart stands for your ability to love. Therefore, holding yourself back from freely receiving and giving love can also cause heart problems.

Therefore in order to keep your heart healthy you must try to think positive. Positive thinking does not just mean expecting the best from life. It also means looking for good in everyone and giving up on your cynicism. Positive thinking includes positive self talk, i.e. believing in yourself and appreciating yourself for who you are. It stands for adopting a new approach to life, an approach which helps you find mental peace and satisfaction.

How to think Positive?

Thinking positive is probably easier said than done. Often when we try to think positive our mind plays spoil sport. It seems to control us and sneaks in negative thoughts and worries at every opportunity. If only we could learn to control our thoughts, we would be able to control our minds, instead of it working the other way round! It’s not that difficult a task, if we adopt the right approach. The following tips may help.

Make conscious efforts to avoid negative thinking: We get so used to our negative thinking pattern that sometimes we don’t even realize when we slip into it. However, whenever you do realize that have fallen into the trap of negative thinking, consciously divert your mind to something positive, unrelated to your present negative thought. For instance if you catch yourself worrying about losing your job, stop yourself and divert your attention to an enjoyable game or recently watched movie. Because of your habitual thinking patterns, it may be difficult for you to suddenly start expecting the best out of every situation; in such cases it’s better to first learn to stop yourself from negative thinking by consciously distracting your mind.

Positive Affirmations: Telling yourself that you expect the best from life and looking for the silver lining in every situation will help bring about a shift in your perception. The logic is simple, if you are told throughout your life that you are a bad dancer, no matter how much potential you have you’ll eventually start viewing yourself as someone with two left feet, without even trying to learn how to dance! Similarly if you tell yourself repeatedly that you have full faith in yourself and expect the best from every situation, it will become your truth.

The following affirmations can help you adopt an approach of positive thinking towards life:

"I love and appreciate myself" (This affirmation helps you get rid of the pattern of negative self-talk)

"It’s safe for me to express my feelings" (This helps you overcome the negative thinking pattern which makes you fear other people’s reactions to your feelings)

"I deserve to love and be loved" (This frees you from the negative thoughts like "I don't deserve to be loved" or "I am not good enough")

"I trust life to bring the best to me" (This frees you from your habit of expecting the worst from life)

"I now attract kind and loving people into my life" (This will help you look for good in everyone and overcome your cynical attitude)

Keep yourself busy- You may have observed that you tend to think more when you have nothing to do, however if you keep yourself busy, you won't have time to dwell on negatives. Nurturing a hobby, learning something new, exercising, reading and listening to music etc are all enjoyable ways of keeping yourself busy. Doing things that you enjoy, will also keep you in a happier frame of mind- and when happy you are more likely to feel optimistic and think positively.

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