U.S. MILITARY H BOOK EXCERPT 6TH OF A SERIES

THE RESILIENT WARRIOR RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN

BY KORTNEY YASENKA, LCMHC

Book Editor's Note: Featuring self-help, mental health, and mind and body tactics from a variety of sources — veterans, former and active U.S. Marines, Navy, Army Rangers, Green Berets, family members and caretakers — The Resilient Warrior is collaborative collection providing needed wisdom for complete well-being for all of us. The first step to thriving is surviving, and the first step to surviving is knowing how to get what you need, when you need it. The following excerpt of this essential self-help guide to living a healthy, resilient, fulfilled and better life is the sixth in a series of six that EP Magazine has featured over the last several months.

Make use of cognitive restructuring techniques to help increase positive thinking.

How do you motivate yourself to live each day in a positive mindset? Things are easier said than done, so how do you start living a better life? A happier life? A mentally healthier life? Does simply hanging posters on a wall help? Is it best to recite daily positive affirmations? The short answer is yes. We are all capable of living a happier life.

Here is how.

Research shows that just seeing the word "no" can change your brain, and not for the better. Think about that for a moment. Simply looking at a word can negatively impact your brain. Imagine if "no" and other negative words are not only seen, but also said by you or to you daily. Negativity literally changes the wiring of your brain and causes you to not only see situations more pessimistically, but also causes you to view future situations with a negative mind set.

future situations with a negative mind set. Now, think of your brain as having different pathways. Each pathway involved contains an automatic response to a situation, caused by specific thoughts about that situation. These thoughts can be influenced by past experiences, either good or bad.

Think of it like this: every day you walk the same path, back and forth, getting to and from your house to your shed. Over time, this pathway gets more and more defined – clearer to see every day and with every traversal. This is what happens in your brain. Without even giving it a second thought, you know what pathway you will take to get to the shed. Similarly, your brain knows what pathway it will take given a situation. Unfortunately, many of us get stuck on an extremely negative path. Good news is, it's never too late to start on a new path. A new journey toward positivity.

Now, imagine you decide to try out a new path and take a new route to the shed. What happens the first day? The terrain may be slightly rougher, and it may be more difficult for you to get to the shed. You can get there, but it takes more effort and conscious decisions on your part. The new path is not yet clearly defined. As with your brain, and creating new pathways, it will not happen overnight. It takes constant effort and practice to create new pathways. So, how do you create new pathways in the brain to set yourself in a more positive direction? The answer is positive thinking.

Positive thinking is a simple concept that can produce significant results. The first step in living a better, happier, and mentally healthier life is through positive thinking.