Positive thinking
🟢 Evidence-based🔵 Wellness practice
Positive thinking ≠ pretending everything is perfect. It means seeing the situation more fully, including what is hard, and still choosing a helpful next step.
- Balanced thinking: look for evidence for and against a worrying thought.
- Reframing: ask what else could be true.
- Realistic optimism: hope plus a plan.
- Strengths: notice what you already do well.
- Self-compassion: treat yourself as you would a good friend.
- Growth mindset: abilities can develop with effort and good strategies; mistakes are information.
- Positive self-talk and solution focus: “What can I do next?” instead of “Why does this always happen?”
Example: “I always fail.”
See the five steps
- Notice: “I’m thinking: I always fail.”
- Question: Always? Can I recall one time something went okay?
- Reframe: “This went badly, and I have also done some things well.”
- Balanced thought: “I’m struggling with this. I can learn and improve.”
- One useful action: ask for feedback or try a smaller step. Feeling disappointed is allowed.
Try a tool
Change the thought
Five steps to look at a hard thought in a balanced way.
Can I look at this differently?
A five-question tool to see a situation more fully.
▶️ Tool 4: Acting on your values
WHO South-East Asia Region (WHO SEARO) · 5:08 min
Part of WHO South-East Asia's 'Managing Stress Better' series, based on WHO's illustrated guide 'Doing What Matters in Times of Stress'.
The video plays from the publisher's own YouTube channel. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press the button. Watch on YouTube