CMK Foundation

When we are positive, we find that our interactions with the world and ourselves become brighter, more productive and perpetuate the ‘feel good’ factor. This in turn makes us healthier and more peaceful.

But how do we develop this positivism. The answer can be found in ‘Attitudinal’ Yoga.

According to a  concept of yoga, the path to a positive attitude can be found through a 3-step approach:

•  Awareness
•  Acceptance
•  Attitude

We found this article and wanted to share:

Giving back to others is one of the easiest ways you can contribute to society. So why, then, do so few people do so? For some, the idea of giving away hard-earned money is preposterous. For others, there’s just not enough hours in the day to give back to others.

When you can learn the importance of giving, your life will be changed forever. You will soon begin to seek out more and more opportunities and ways to give. Here are just a few reasons why giving is so important:

Giving opens up more possibilities for you.

When you can find it in your heart and life to give something back to others, you will find more and more opportunities opening up for you. Giving anything of yourself allows more room for you to receive. The possibilities that come to you when you give are endless.

Giving teaches you to be more thankful.

In giving, the greatest lesson often learned is that you have more than you’ll ever need. In this respect, giving of yourself teaches you to be more thankful for what you do have, rather than focus on all the things you don’t have.

Giving makes room for you to receive more.

Most of all, the act of giving opens up space for you to receive. Giving is like a secret message to the universe that says you are available and open to receive gifts yourself. Until you can make space to receive those gifts, you will likely find yourself feeling like you are up against a brick wall.

Giving might seem too simple of a concept or idea for you. If so, you might not be prepared to open yourself up in such a manner. When you are ready to receive bigger and better things in life, the simple act of giving will set the ball in motion.

Written By Hope Wilbanks

Building positive relationships with your family, friends and dating partners can give you more than just excitement and thrill. These vital relationships with other people can actually help you live a healthier life!

How do healthy relationships keep you strong and healthy? Here are some of the reasons why.

Physiological wear and tear

According to research, people’s bodies function better when they experience positive events from their relationships with other people. Meanwhile, those who experience negative relation experiences are more likely to suffer from disorders such as high blood pressure, depression and poor mental health.

Fun and laughter

Having positive relationships with other people give you days of endless fun and laughter. By enjoying plain old fun with your friends and family, you can forget all your worries from work and laugh your way out of the most stressful situations.

Laughter, which is associated with positive relationships, is a strong medicine for the body and the mind. It serves as the perfect antidote for conflict, stress and painful experiences. By laughing at your friends’ jokes and funny antics, you will find your whole body relaxing. It also increases the flow of endorphins in your body, allowing you to experience an overall sense of well-being.

By Jamie Rona

According to  the Inspiration & Motivation Blog

Those who have tried to improve themselves as well as their knowledge, know very well how life is easier to live as they exercise positive thinking. But not many people know how to train themselves to let positive thinking dominate their minds. So let us first find out some characteristics of positive thinking people, then we can start to follow suit.

1. They see problems as challenges.

This is in contrast to the way some people see problems as ordeals too great to bear as to make their lives most miserable.

2. They enjoy their lives.

Positive thinking makes people light heartedly accept whatever conditions their lives are in, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they stop trying to better their lives.

3. They always open their minds to welcome ideas and suggestions.

By doing so, they have the chance to get something new that might enable the betterment of many things in life.

4. They immediately expel any negative thought as soon as it crosses their minds.

Keeping any negative thought longer may as well be waking up a sleeping tiger. It actually is indifferent but potential to bring about troubles.

5. They count their blessing.

They don’t complain about not having or getting what they want.

6. They don’t listen to gossips.

There’s no doubt that gossips are closely related to negative thoughts so positive thinkers never let themselves come into listening to aimless and meaningless talks.

7. They don’t make excuses but act straightaway.

You likely have heard how the abbreviation of NATO is jokingly said to represent: No Action Talk Only. Clearly positive thinkers are not its followers.

8. They apply positive way of speaking.

They use sentences with optimistic tone, like : “this problem will surely be solved soon” and “you are quite talented, no doubt”

9. They carry positive body language.

Namely : smiling face, steady strides, expressive gestures, convincing nods etc.

10. They care about their self image.

They take care of their good appearances, outwardly and inwardly as well.

1. Offer your time at a local creative class or event. People are often delighted to receive help in organising and setting up creativity events. Find out what’s going on in your area and offer an hour or two of your time.
2. Donate books on art and creativity to a good cause. Whether it’s to a charity shop, a hospital ward, a doctor’s reception area or somewhere else, your donation will be gratefully received, and may spark off a stranger’s sleeping creativity.
3. Let people know when you enjoy their work. Whether it’s an author who’s book you’ve just finished, or a painter who’s work has particularly inspired you, most artists have contact details readily available, so let them know how their art enhanced your life.
4. Form a group for creative friends. Offer to set up and host a reading, writing or craft group for some creative friends. You can support each other in your own creative work or start collaborating on a new creative project together.
5. Offer to volunteer at a local school. Many schools will welcome help in hearing children read, or in art and craft classes. Get involved and support existing classes, or you could even set up a new after school art or craft group yourself.
6. Give your services to a community building or project. Maybe it’s a new park or garden where help is needed in designing their landscaping or a community hall that needs the interior freshening up and modernising. Offer your creative abilities and feel part of the community.
7. Post comments on blogs and websites. If you read a post on someone’s blog you enjoy, let them know and post a comment. It’s a great of way of supporting those who’s work positively touches your life. You can even remain anonymous if you wish.
8. Design posters and leaflets for a local voluntary organisation. If you’re good at graphic design, or simple know how to produce eye catching and colourful posters and flyers, offer your talents to a local voluntary organisation to help them promote their events and services.
9. Help a friend decorate or redesign their home. Many people simply don’t have the design eye for creating a home they both love to be in and are creatively inspired by. Offer your help in designing, painting, making curtains, covers, furniture, or wherever else you’re able to offer your creative talents.
10. Get involved in a theatre group. Even if you’re not an aspiring actor, most small theatre groups welcome help with set design, lighting, sound and so on. Use your skills to support them however you can.

Getting involved in any one of these activities will be much appreciated by those you’re helping. And as a bonus, you’ll get the chance to be creative maybe in different areas that you’re normally exposed to, as well as the unique feeling that by giving your time, ideas and talents, you’re positively affecting the lives of others.

So enhance your Creative Karma and make contact with someone you can help today!

By Dan Goodwin

Having a positive mental attitude not only promotes inner health but it magically extends to the outer health. This is the power that positive thinking can bring to anyone who decides to make it their habit.

The amazing power of positive thinking can bring happiness, inner peace, better mental and physical health, improved relationships, success and satisfaction. However, to experience its lasting power and regular effect, you need to decide in making it your primary mental attitude.

Though repeating positive words and declaring that everything is going to be alright will be absolutely helpful in inviting positive vibes, but along with your decision to make it your permanent mental attitude, you must develop it, adopt it and make it a part of your daily life in order to experience real results.

Success in developing a positive mental attitude towards everything may not happen at your soonest preferred time, making it your daily intent is a good step for the mind to get accustomed to positive thinking. Seeing the positive side of things is another mental action that will not only help you in developing positive thinking, but it can help in improving relations both personally and professionally.

With a positive thinking fully developed, you begin to share the love as it is contagious. It is an infectious power that incredibly spreads to the people in your environment.

Positive thinking is an inner power that can be achieved by anyone without a cost. Deciding to make it your permanent mental attitude only takes your determination in making it your daily intent. Only a positive mind has the power to control the negative forces in his surroundings. Positive attitude is extremely important, as it encourages individuals to approach each day, and each problem, with a bright outlook. Anyone can become powerful when there is willingness to make positive thinking a daily habit.

~By Keith Gray

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:

• Increased life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower levels of distress
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

It’s unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. It’s also thought that positive and optimistic people live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and have reduced rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Self-talk is the endless stream of thoughts that run through your head every day. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information.

If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you’re likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health. Overcome negative self-talk by recognizing it and practicing with some examples provided.

Is your glass half-empty or half-full? How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you’re optimistic or pessimistic.

In fact, some studies show that these personality traits — optimism and pessimism — can affect many areas of your health and well-being. Positive thinking also is a key part of effective stress management. Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. It just means that you approach the unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way.

With all this in mind, take a refresher course in positive thinking. Learn how to put positive thinking into action in your own life, and reap the benefits.

~Mayo Clinic Staff

There’s a lot of buzz these days around the whole concept of the Law of Attraction, which states if you feel the positive outcome you wish to achieve and believe it will come to pass, you will eventually attract that reality into your life. This is a fancy form of optimism. When you are optimistic, you believe that there will be a positive outcome. When you believe that there will be a positive outcome, you are more likely to act in the positive manner that will bring about the outcome you hope for. The future is said to be determined by whether a person strives or yields. With optimism, you always push ahead and therefore achieve what you’re looking for.

There was an interesting study done by Robert Shuman in 1979 that speaks about the loss of optimism. When Shuman was practicing psychology at a children’s hospital, he suffered from great mental torment and was hospitalized for back pain. He was later diagnosed with debilitating multiple sclerosis. He fell into a state of great helplessness, anguish, and torment, and decided to document these feelings that he knew so many others in similar chronic situations were plagued with. His notes culminated in his book The Psychology of Chronic Illness. Shuman’s book was significant because it brought to our understanding how chronic illness with no cure ruins optimism in individuals—perhaps for the rest of their lives. Once power over our own lives is lost, our optimism is lost as well.

The power of optimism is the power to successfully navigate and overcome life’s greatest challenges. Optimism can be learned. You need not be a born optimist to experience the benefits of optimism. In reality, optimism is a choice that we can all make. We all have the power to observe our negative thoughts and compulsive actions. We have the power to be aware of ourselves and our past that influences our current actions. When we are finally able to clearly see what we are doing and understand what we are thinking, we then have the power to choose optimism.

~ali magazine