One of the greatest gifts you can give to your child is to train his mind to think positively. It does not mean assuming a naive positivism or turning the back on reality, but learning to find the positive side of the problems. In this way, you will make his or her life easier and, as a result, he or she will also learn to develop this attitude, because educating a child means also re-educating ourselves.
Stop functioning with the autopilot
Our brain is programmed to avoid everything that can hurt us. This is one of the reasons why sadness is the most lasting emotion, 240 times more than the rest of the emotions. Therefore, it is important to educate the brain for understanding that things are not black and white and that problems can also hide the seeds of change.
The brain is constantly recording memories of how we react to different situations, thus creating “neural highways” that will become habits. This means that if children learn since childhood to focus on negatives aspects, adopting a defeatist attitude, and thinking about problems as obstacles, soon this way of thinking will become an habit.
Habits are not negative, on the contrary, they allow us to save time and energy that we can devote to other things. However, we must ensure that we strengthen our positive habits and that these do not become obstacles to our development and well-being.
The “happiness jar” technique
Elsa Punset has created a very simple technique to teach children think positively as soon as possible. The interesting detail is that you can do it in your family so everyone can learn.
The technique is called the “happiness har”, but there are also some variants such as “the amphora of happy moments” or the “trunk of gratitude”. You just need a transparent jar, where every family member has to put a note every night that indicates something positive that happened to him or her during the day.
It can be anything from a smile that has rejoiced you to a comforting hug, something that amazed you… The important thing is that it is something that excited you at that moment or for which you felt grateful. You can use paper in different colors. Ideally, the technique should be realized for at least six consecutive months. After that term, you can open the jar and read randomly some of the things you wrote. Surely you will remember that moment and enjoy it again.
With this simple technique you can get great things:
– Teach children to appreciate the little details that enrich their lives
– Teach children to practice gratitude, which will allow them to live much more satisfied
– Gradually, they will learn to be fully present, and will look every day for new reasons to feel happy
– They will develop positive habits that will serve them in the future to deal with problems with a more proactive attitude
Remember that the brain tends to focus more on negative rather than positive aspects of life, often it overwhelms the problems and their consequences, so it is important to teach children since childhood that the glass is not only half empty, but also half full.
