In March, we wrote about how mindfulness can be harmful for some people. It can cause some people to feel stress and anxiety rather than peace. It can also make people too “in the moment,” causing them to not plan for the future or learn from past mistakes.
If that has been your experience, that doesn’t mean that using thought to help find peace is unworkable! For some people, harnessing the power of optimism might be the secret to feeling peace. This isn’t simply a mantra of “think happy thoughts, and everything will be fine!” Recent neuroscience shows that when you think positively about your future, you reshape your brain. That leads to emotional well-being and resilience.
Thoughts are like food or exercise for your brain—what you put into it changes how it grows. People who regularly picture a positive future have increased activity in the area of the brain that handles decisions, emotional regulation and goal-oriented behavior. Hopeful thoughts activate the part of the brain that controls reward and motivation and can release dopamine.
Positive forward thinking can help your mental health long-term. In a study, people who think optimistically about their future reported fewer depressive episodes and had better long-term emotional health.
None of this is to say you should force it. The culture of “good vibes only” is called toxic positivity. It can lead you to ignore your own problems, tell yourself to stop complaining and invalidate your feelings. None of that is healthy for your mental well-being!
The human brain is smart. It detects lies it’s telling itself. If you say, “tomorrow will be great” when you are having a difficult time, your brain can react by releasing more stress hormones, not fewer as it recognizes the lie.
Instead of trying to approach things like everything is great, use a more realistic approach. You can have honest but positive thoughts that your brain will recognize as true, “This situation is awful, but I am doing my best.” Or, “I feel terrible, but I have handled hard things in the past and come out the other side.” Balancing the current situation with the knowledge that you are working toward your goals can take a weight off your shoulders and help you move past it.
Approaching the world with this mindset can improve your physical health as well as your mental health. When you feel better, you act with less stress and often engage more easily with healthier behavior, like exercising more frequently, eating a healthy diet and paying attention to your health. Optimism has been linked to better heart and immune health as well as a lower mortality risk.
If mindfulness hasn’t helped you in the past, let it go. No health practice is one size fits all. Instead, try thinking positively about your future and your goals. It may be the best mental practice for you!
