Do you feel energized by spring? Colors begin to pop up, birds chirp more excitedly, flowery scents fill the air, new growth is everywhere, frogs sing loudly, and people emerge from their homes. Maybe there is more invigoration for us northern or midwestern folks who live in the cold and gray for a time that seems never-ending. Personally, spring is my favorite season and probably because of what I just mentioned.
A curious thing happened that made me connect the newness spring brings to our mindsets. Before I get to that, let me give a little background. In my profession, I do a lot of ghostwriting. I’m always listening carefully to stories and conversations for any nuggets I can use to keep the articles personal to the person intended to be the author. I was in a budget meeting talking about life purpose statements (I understand those two things don’t typically go together). The person I do a lot of writing for was there, and they shared a story about being intentional with looking for the positive in situations and others. Their intention led to a marriage and a successful business.
I used that story to ghostwrite an article for an employee newsletter about making choices and choosing a positive mindset. Okay, here is the curious thing that happened: My sister wrote about the same thing in her employee newsletter. On the same day! We didn’t talk about the topic before writing about it; we just happened to be on the same wavelength.
Is that because spring—the changing of seasons—brings out a rejuvenation that we call positivity? Is it because coming out of winter and living a year into a pandemic brings a common need for something positive? Is it because we’re sisters?
Whatever the reason, I dug into learning about mindset choices. I read that in any circumstance, we can choose to see the good versus the bad. We can find joy in junk versus wondering why crap always happens. We can choose to hear the newly emerged spring frogs’ beautiful song versus thinking of them as loud and clanky buggers. It may feel natural to see the negative because, often, our brains get trained to see those things due to what life throws at us. The good thing is that our brains can also be trained—or retrained—to look for the positive.
Here are three takeaways from what I’ve read:
1. It’s science, AND it’s spiritual. Science proves that positive thinking equals positive feeling (and the opposite is true). There is proof that you can change the pathways—or thought tendencies—in your brain. When we consistently pray, which includes being thankful for even the slightest of things and shedding worries through faith, it aids in changing the pathways in our brains from negative to positive. For a great read and a deeper dive, check out Craig Groeschel’s book, Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life.
2. It’s a choice. You must want to see the good. I see some friends and family members that always seem to find the ugly in a situation or a person’s character. Nothing ever seems to be good enough, they constantly grumble, and their lives seem to be stuck. There is a conscious choice between crabbing about something or someone and only seeing the bad things versus finding something good to say or a positive aspect to highlight.
3. There’s a step to take. In the book, The 5 Second Rule, the author Mel Robbins offers a step toward pushing past negative thoughts. She references a control room providing a five-second countdown before a rocket launch. Note, there’s science behind counting down versus up. The brain will take over if we don’t move or change the thought path after the five-second countdown (think: continued negative thinking or continued procrastination). I’ve successfully used this idea to stop hitting the snooze button in the morning and stop the negative thoughts that can spiral in my brain.
We have the power to reframe our thoughts just as a bright spring tulip pushes through the brown wintered dirt. Choose positive thoughts and words. When it seems too hard to choose, pray by offering thankfulness in the day and giving any worries over. Then countdown, 5-4-3-2-1, and move to a positive thought.
Happy spring and happy thoughts, my friends!
PHOTO CREDIT—AND THE POSITIVITY WAVELENGTH—GOES TO MY SISTER, JENNY HECK