022: The Power of Positive Thinking and Learning the “Thumbs Up” Attitude

We all experience negative thoughts from time to time, and many of those thoughts are likely to be automatic thoughts that we’ve been thinking for our entire lives. How we think affects how we feel and, in turn, how we behave.

In today’s episode, Jane is talking about the power of positive thinking. Jane shares how to be aware of the triggers that provoke your negative thoughts, how to reprogram your brain with positive input, and examples of positive self-talk that influence positive thinking. 

As nurses, we spend a lot of our time taking care of others. But are we also taking care of ourselves? In order to support others in our work, we have to take care of ourselves first. And that’s not limited to physical health. It’s important to prioritize mental and emotional health as well.

What’s in this episode:

• A few updates from our break
• Why contact hours are no longer offered with this podcast and how we can potentially bring them back
• An exercise in what’s happening with your thoughts and how to turn around your negative thoughts in the moment
• The feeling, thinking, and behaving triangle (Melnyk and Howling)
• How learning to become more aware of your triggers can help turn your negative thoughts into positive ones
• Why it’s important to reprogram your brain with positive input (words, books, people)
• The ABCs of cognitive behavioral therapy
• 10 examples of cognitive distortions (automatic thoughts)
• How positive self-talk influences positive thinking (use “I” statements)
• How creating an environment of positivity can influence those around you
• What’s coming up in future episodes

For more resources, head to www.wellnesswarriors.healthcare.

We want to hear from you! We’d like to offer clinical information for bedside nurses. What topics would you like for us to discuss? Go to www.wellnesswarriors.healthcare and share with us what you’d like to hear. This could result in us being able to offer discounted contact hours.