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What’s your glass measurement?

by Kalee Christian

The power of positive thinking in your college career

Growing up in a hardworking, highly energetic family meant that you either had to keep up with the good times, or they were going to roll on without you.

There was no time for depression, bad moods, or negative thinking. You just had to keep going and everything would work out the way it was supposed to in the end.

Unfortunately that didn’t work out so nicely every time. Everyone is faced with some seemingly impossible situations that sometimes get the better of our emotions.

Now that I’m in college, I don’t always have my family to get me out of a stink, and sometimes it seems like it would be much easier to slip into a hole of depression rather than to have to keep climbing out of one.

However, according to extensive research done at the Mayo Clinic and psychology professors right here at LC, this is much more harmful than helpful, especially during your college career.

Sitting in your dorm room with the weight of the world on your shoulders, you are thinking about your grades, pleasing your parents, pleasing your friends, impressing the teachers, keeping up a good relationship, being a good Christian, and remembering everything your forgot throughout the course of the week.

This moment might be the match that lights the fire of your negative thinking, but all you have to do is talk yourself out of this moment.

Watch how LC stays happy!


According to the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking begins with self-talk. If you continually remind yourself that you aren’t alone, that everyone has some stress in college, that you can pass that test, and that there are some people that will always be there for you no matter what, overcoming this depression ignition becomes much easier.

Along with a more positive outlook on life and automatically brighter days, the Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered that positive thinking has numerous health benefits. Some of those benefits include:

-Increased life span
- Lower rates of depression
- Lower rates of distress
- Greater resistance to the common cold
- Better psychological and physical well-being
- Reduced risk from cardiovascular disease
- Better coping skills during hardships
- AND SO MANY MORE!

We have our own professionals here at LC who can shed some light on how beneficial a positive outlook is. Ms. Sheri Duffy, assistant professor of Social Work and Field Placement Coordinator, took some time to discuss this with me.

KC: Based on your professional opinion and your knowledge of human behavior, are there real necessary benefits that come from thinking positively as opposed to thinking negatively?

SD: Yes, there are real benefits. Positive people approach situations with an attitude of looking for solutions and for the good. If you stay negative, you aren’t looking for solutions, and you are always focused on where you are at and why you are stuck there. If you go into a situation looking for solutions, you usually find them, which helps you succeed and have a positive outcome.

KC: Are there any examples in your life that you can describe where having a positive outlook made an impact on the situation?

SD: Having a positive outlook in my practice influenced how I approached clients. There’s lots of times where you run into clients and you have conflicting personalities, but you still want to help them. If I had a more positive view, I had better outcomes in my communication with them and helping them move towards resolution. If I had gone in with an attitude like, “Well I don’t understand them and they are frustrating me,” then that would have been conveyed in my communication with them and we probably would have reached a stalemate. I’ve realized that when I have had a more positive outlook in my practice, my communication goes better, and more positive results come out of it.

KC: How do you get yourself out of a bad mood?

SD: I do! A lot of times people get into a negative state or bad attitude because of tension, stress, or conflict. If you can find something that refocuses you and relaxes you, it can put you back in a positive place. We can all find the negative, and when I get to that point when I feel like I’m only thinking negatively, I start to think about what in my life is positive. When I start naming them, not out loud but making a mental list of them, then I realize that there is no point for me to have this negative frame of mind. The positives in your life far out way the negatives.

KC: Do you think that being a Christian has an impact on your overall outlook on life? Do you think having a relationship with the Lord helps you be more positive?

SD: I do think that. Now, I also think it has to do with where you are in your spiritual growth in that relationship and how close you are to the Lord. Even Christians sometimes slip into a negative mindset, but if you have that relationship, you know you have hope. If you have hope, you can always find something positive. It might not be the biggest positive in the world, but you can always find something that can draw you and keep you going. Without that (relationship), I don’t know how people do it. In my counseling, I noticed a huge difference in those that had a relationship with the Lord and those that didn’t because I couldn’t make those without faith have it. It was very hard to help them find something that was positive and a source of hope. As a Christian, the Lord is our source of hope so I do think it helps us have a more positive outlook.

All the evidence points to one thing: a more positive outlook equals a more successful, happy, fulfilling lifestyle.

Being positive isn’t some kind of impossible feat either. You just have to make one choice: Will my glas be half empty, or half full?

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