Simply Positive Thoughts

  What do you understand by physical loops? A circular place or thing that connects the beginning and its end and can go on and on. But what do we mean by mental loops? Let’s see if I can explain myself with an example. I pick up a book and read it for a while, then I switch to look at my mobile, then I switch to look from one app to another. I switch to my book again and there goes the cycle. Have you ever been in such a situation? I am confused as to what kind of a behavior is this. It is really frustrating to watch myself get stuck in such loops. And bam! There goes my hour which was supposed to be fruitful. All this builds up a lot of tension and stress. Right now, I’m just going to go take a short walk to the kitchen to have a glass of water and see if it breaks this loop. Well, I sat in a different spot, had water and a very short conversation with myself. Almost like a pep talk before I resume penning my thoughts. I did some light breathing exercises to calm my anxiety. I ...

How many of you are used to watching workout videos? Is it just me or anybody else also feels that the moment you start watching the video your motivation is skyrocketing? You find yourself floating in the clouds and daydreaming about the fit body that you’re going to gift yourself. Oh Snap! One minute into the video and the sense of realization hit you in the face that this isn’t your cup of tea. The rude awakening! The sweet bubble of your dream pops. It is so disheartening to be introduced to your reality that you feel the need to snack your way through the sadness. Voila! Did you gain another inch instead of losing one?! Let’s talk about another situation. How many of you make new year resolutions to yourselves? Did you just silently agree? Well, you’re not alone. Even if you belong to the category who break them by the 2 nd January! I, for one, have made and broken at least a dozen of them by now. So, it is safe to speak that I totally understand how it feels to fail to keep a ...

I was watching Disney’s famous movie “ Inside Out ” the other day. Those of you who are unaware of what it is, let me give a backdrop about this movie. It is a story of a young girl Riley and five characters that live inside her head namely – Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. This movie depicts how these five emotions control the life of Riley. It was hilarious to see all the emotions materialize as characters. Can you imagine Sadness saying, “ Remember that funny movie where the dog died? ” Well, that’s what happiness must be for Sadness. Haha! And what about Fear trying to quit his job out of Fear? Poor guy later found out that he is an important emotion and cannot quit. Anyway, every time Riley got upset, Joy would try to force happy thoughts on her. Joy tried, with all her might, to seclude Sadness in a corner while she made Riley’s life joyous. She assumed that keeping Sadness at bay would keep Riley cheerful. Later in the movie Joy realized that Sadness is compassionate and ...

“What have I done to deserve this?” “Why is God punishing me?” “I was born with bad luck.” “Why do I face so many hurdles while others get everything easily.” “Why is it always me?” I’m sure we’ve said similar statements at least once in our life. Some find it easy to divert themselves while others over think and get stuck. All of us know that gravity keeps us on the ground. But to propel a rocket and make it leave the Earth’s gravitational force, we require a force equal to the gravity but in the opposite direction. We achieve this force by moving at a very high velocity of 11km per second. This velocity is also called Escape velocity. In the same way, we need a similar force to free ourselves from the mental strain that keeps us locked up inside our head. We need our Escape velocity which can come from two sources – internal or external. Internal force drives you in whichever direction you want. Internal force includes the strong will power and a cool head in the heat of th...

Some of you might be aware of the term Zugzwang. For those of you who know it already, I ask you all to be patient while I give a brief explanation. Zugzwang is a German term related to the game of Chess. It means a situation wherein one player is in such circumstances that it is his turn to move and all his moves are bad, i.e., he will lose the game whichever way he moves. It sounds bad, right? I want you to give it a moment’s thought. You are stuck and there is no way towards victory. You are at a place where you are safe and staying there won’t make you lose. But can you stay stuck at that position forever? Let’s put it this way - only after that game is lost, only after that chapter is closed, you will have an opportunity to start a new game. With the new game you will have an opportunity to play once more. This time you are equipped with the knowledge about which moves will make you lose the game and to avoid those moves and try the new ones. This is one step closer to winni...