by Wendy Brock

Created on: February 27, 2008   Last Updated: November 01, 2008

What's so important about staying positive? Having a positive vocabulary encourages a good outlook on life, a good attitude, and overall, a better life. Living a good life by staying positive also encourages people around you. Your upbeat attitude will rub off on others and will encourage them to be positive also.

In order to stay positive, you must develop a vocabulary that has positive words. Avoiding words with a negative connotation is extremely important to stay positive. Negative words are any words that include the word "not." Any positive word can be transformed into a negative one by adding that little word.

When you speak, you are professing what's inside of you. If you feel negatively, you will speak negatively. This sets up a horribly contagious chain of events. Once you talk in a negative way, you begin to believe what you say.

You're not the only one affected either. Everyone around you is affected and they can pick up on the bad vibes. Children will mimic you and they will become negative thinkers and speakers. Other people will feel bad about being around you.

The word "cannot," "can't," or "I can't" means that someone is not able to do something. By stating "I can't," you set yourself up not to be able to do it. You are automatically putting up a barrier between you and the goal.

If you are faced with a challenge and you find yourself saying "I can't succeed," then you won't. However, if you change "can't" into "try" then you'll remove the obstacle you've placed between you and the outcome and you'll be closer to achieving it.

If you change the word "try" into "I will" then you are allowing yourself to achieve the goal. You are removing all obstacles and will achieve what you set forth to accomplish. Changing the word "will" into "am" allows even greater goals to be achieved. By saying "I am" you are affirming that the goal is already yours. The powerful "I am" will set into motion what you want.

For example, say you want to be happy. You say "I can't be happy." By saying you can't be happy, you're not going to be happy. Ever. When you say "I will be happy," you're allowing yourself to have happiness, but in the future. The word will is the future tense of the word "be." When you say "I am happy," you're allowing happiness into your life right now. Easy, huh?

The phrase "It's not possible" implies that there is no other solution to the problem. Saying something is impossible is a fallacy. Nothing is impossible.

Maybe you haven't looked at all your options. Brainstorm ideas that lead to the solution. Talk to other people about your problems and get their advice. Lose the "it's not possible" phrase from your language and you'll find that more things are possible than you could imagine.

Pay attention to what you say. When you find that you're using contractions such as "can't," "won't," or "isn't," remember that what you're saying is a negative phrase. Each time you say something that sheds dark light over the subject, retract it and rephrase it with something positive. You'll see promising results in your attitude, others around you, and your entire well-being.

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