Is your glass half-empty or half-full? How you answer this age-old question may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you're an optimist or a pessimist. If the thoughts, which run through your head, are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely to be pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely to be an optimist — someone who practises positive thinking.

While we all know that negative feelings can eventually damage our health, most of us don’t appreciate that a positive attitude can significantly improve our health and make us feel brighter with renewed vitality. Changing your attitude to a more positive one is one of the most valuable things you can do to control your health outcomes. Your immune system will be boosted; you’ll make better life choices and what’s more, your social life will improve, as others will enjoy your company more!

It's unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. It is also thought that positive and optimistic people live healthier lifestyles engaging in more physical activity, following a healthier diet, and having reduced rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.

If you don’t have anything to lose by maintaining a positive attitude, and all the good health to gain, then why not change to adopting an optimistic spirit? At the very least, you’ll be happier; more contented; and be able to handle most things that life throws at you.

Remember that we are only as ‘old’ as we think we are. We all know that we feel the same inside as we did when we were in our twenties. However, what we have now is the wisdom to change our mind-set for our own benefits as well as for the benefit of our immediate family, friends, and members of our community. It is about adopting a mind-set that says we can do anything we put our minds to no matter now old we are and no matter what our circumstances are.

A good start is to tell yourself that it is up to you to add some regular exercise into your life. Do something, which you know you will be able to maintain. Be realistic in your choice of exercise and give yourself some variety as well as some rewards. The benefits will be astounding! You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that they include: a clearer mind; diminished stress; more energy; improved cardiovascular function; a better posture; improved sleep; improved muscular function; a healthier appetite; better body image; and an overall feeling of being in control of your health. You can start to own your ‘own health outcomes’. You will stop feeling as though you are a victim and be aware that you can make significant improvements to your health and you’ll quickly regain the ‘spring in your step’ wondering why you have let your physical health lapse so much in the past!

If we are going to accomplish anything, we need to have control over our thoughts, actions, behaviours and our belief systems. Being negative doesn’t solve anything but certainly stops us from accomplishing our goals.

I believe what keeps us ‘young’ is a feeling of contentment with how we are living our daily lives and consequently the life choices we are making. It helps to be able to dream and plan as we work on projects—large or small. Being active in our everyday lives is not just about ‘doing’ it is also about ‘being’. It means ‘being’ a better person, ‘being’ ready to learn, ‘being’ ready to grow and ‘being’ ready to live a longer life!

Aside from being more active, you can become a more positive person by changing the way you communicate. Listen to yourself the next time you are talking about your life and see how many negative ways you talk about yourself or your circumstances. Listen to your responses to greetings. When greeted by ‘how are you doing’ do you say “not bad’ or ‘could be better’ OR do you answer with a more positive phrase such as ‘great thanks, and how are you?’ or ‘couldn’t be better!’  Make a commitment to change your language to a more positive expression and you will soon find that you will be happier, healthier and have much more energy as a result.

Another little trick you should practise until it becomes natural for you is to always try to turn a bad situation into a good situation by saying to yourself: ‘Well this is really terrible but I can find a solution and I can survive this’
and if it is possible, try to look outwards not inwards.

Obviously, with the dreadful floods here in Queensland, Australia during the past couple of weeks, we are all thinking of the poor victims and sending our heart felt love and sympathy to all affected. We all know many people in dreadful situations and of course for them to feel positive is not a reality. However, for those of us who are able to offer any kind of help and support, our positive attitude will help them to start their long roads to recovery.

If you want to know more about how you can become a more positive thinker by increasing your daily activity, contact your local physio and ask if you can join an Actively Ageing Program.