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10 Traits That Determine Someone’s Attractiveness

March 25, 2021 by Power of Positivity

You’ve probably heard the adage that beauty was only skin deep while growing up. There is a great deal of truth to that saying because many things define your attractiveness. What you see on the outside is only one facet of the person.

There are so many things that you cannot see on the inside, which can make even an ugly duckling look like a radiant beauty. Have you ever been poorly judged by someone because they only take your looks at face value? However, when they learn your personality and how you relate to others, your inner beauty shines to the outside.

You’ve been told that you should never judge a book by its cover, and this statement is true. The cover is just one representation, but you must get to the inside to find the real story. Very few people look like fashion model dolls or have superstar appearances, as it’s just not realistic.

The world is full of average Joes and women who don’t fit into the size two cookie-cutter mold. Thankfully, you don’t need to be anyone other than you for people to see your attractiveness. Everyone has qualities they possess that make them beautiful, but sometimes you got to peel back the layers to discover them.

What Defines Attractiveness?

Numerous things help to define your level of attractiveness. For some, it’s the ability to cook like a Southern Belle, but others are drawn to those who can tell a good joke. You must remember that the color of your eyes or hair is only one part of your story. Here are a few things that people consider when saying someone is desirable.

1. Your Personality

What is a personality? Your personality is made up of distinctive patterns of opinions, thoughts, and manners that make you unique. It’s thought that temperament evolves from within the person and stays constant during their life.

According to the National Institute of Health, your personality has genetic components. So, it’s likely that you have similar demeanors to one or both of your parents.

2. Your Smile

When someone looks at you, do they see a bright smile or a scowl? You can rest assured that no one is going to think someone who is always frowning looks attractive. A smile makes you emit positivity, and it makes others trust you more.

When you smile, you’re breaking down barriers and showing people that you’re a warm and friendly person. Plus, studies conducted by Penn State University show that smiling is infectious. It’s hard to be in the same room with someone beaming and not smile in return.

3. How You Treat Others

How you treat others is always a significant indication of inner beauty. Are you close to your parents or other family members and treat them with respect? Do you go out of your way to open the door for a stranger?

Do you volunteer at soup kitchens and other civic duties throughout your community? Giving back to those older or in need shows that you’re sunny on the inside. Life’s journey is not about taking everything for yourself; it’s about giving back and making this world a better place to live.

A potential partner may find attractiveness in your efforts to help others and give to those less fortunate.

4. Your Intellect

Though there’s a long-standing thought that some people are only interested in the mind, it does add to your appeal. The fine art of communication takes lots of practice, but you can increase this art by conversing about many subjects.

When you read books, engage with your studies, and are always eager to learn more, it’s desirable to others. Someone with intellect, which is a smart cookie, is appealing. There’s nothing worse than trying to have a conversation with someone, and they do not know about the topic.

5. Your Happiness

A smile is one way that someone can see you’re happy, but when you’re genuinely excited, it’s a joy that exudes from you. It’s effortless to tell someone who’s satisfied from someone miserable. A happy person has a warmth about them that seems infectious.

This person can make you feel better even when everything seems to be falling apart. They are the kind of individuals you want to build a life with because they make the world a better place.

6. Your Eyes

Have you ever heard that the eyes are the window to the soul? Deep inside, you have darkness or light. When you’re right on the inside, your eyes light up and show the radiance of purity.

Looking deep into someone’s eyes tells the truth about their core. Your eyes can be beautiful to others, and it’s not because of a gorgeous color or long lashes either. It’s only because they allow a gaze into the internal makings and show the world a glimpse of your beauty inside.

7. The Way You Carry Yourself

A lady can put on an inexpensive dress and look like a million bucks. Yet, some women can put on a dress that costs thousands of dollars, and it looks like a rag on her. It all depends on how you carry yourself.

When you walk into a room, do you have a commanding presence, or do your tower in the corner and look frumpy? If you had your choice between two dates, would you want the one who has herself together and seems to be in control, or do you want the one that carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and a scowl on her face?

No one wants to be with someone who can’t carry themselves well. Your persona can make others very attracted to you.

8. Your Singing Voice

Think of some of the greatest singers of all time. What was it about them that made the masses flock to concerts to hear them belt out a tune? It wasn’t as much about what was on the outside, but their voice could make them irresistible to others, according to a lively conversation on Quora.

Remember legends like Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole? They had two of the greatest voices to grace a stage. Their tones were soothing and made you feel warm and fuzzy all over. People would fall in love with them just for their voice, so part of their attractiveness was all about their talent.

9. The Ability to Make Others Feel Their Best

Have you ever met someone, sat down to talk to them, and you felt like you’ve known them your entire life? There’s something special about this person that makes you feel like you could talk all night.

It’s lovely to be warm and compassionate towards others. They don’t judge people for past mistakes, and they’re always encouraging others to put their best foot forward. See, having a gorgeous figure or the right clothes means little if you can’t sit down and engage with a person because they make you feel horrible.

10. Your Sense of Humor

There’s something magical about a person that has a sense of humor. Who can forget legends like Robin Williams? He was a man that could have you in tears with his stand-up acts in a matter of minutes.

Williams knew how to work for the crowd, and people found him infectious. He started his journey as a comedian and ended up doing movies for all ages. Most didn’t know that he was hiding deep pain inside that came from a life of regrets.

Remember the old commercial for deodorants that said you should never let anyone see you sweat? Well, Williams lived by that motto. Even though everything on the inside was a mess, he never let it show on the outside.

People want a life partner that makes mundane tasks like going to the grocery store seem fun. So, your sense of humor is a big part of the overall package that is you.

Things That Aren’t Attractive to Others

Now that you know all the lovely things to others, what about the things that aren’t so alluring? Here is a list of the most significant turn-offs that people avoid.

•Bragging

•Negative self-talk

•Poor hygiene

•Bad manners

•Sloppy dressing

•Overbearing personality

•Those who can’t take constructive criticism

•Hot tempers

•Uncaring and unkind towards others

•Jealous behaviors

•Self-absorbed

•Liars

•Cheaters

•Judgmental nature

•Being constantly late

•Passive-aggressive nature

•One-uppers

•Being rude to waitstaff

•Manipulative crying

•Aggressive driving or road rage

•Excessive teasing

•Gossiping

Final Thoughts on Attractiveness

You know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While everyone wants to have runway model looks, very few can achieve those results naturally.

Finding an attractive person is about much more than the clothes they wear or the car they drive; it’s about finding someone right on the inside and the out. So don’t get too hung up on living up to that unattainable definition of attractiveness.

Psychology Explains The Impact of Toxic Positivity in Your Life

March 25, 2021 by Lakeisha Ethans

You might have read this title and wondered what toxic positivity is.

We all know about the importance of positive thinking. It’s crucial for managing stressful or difficult situations, moving forward despite hardship, and even achieving success in many different areas of life.

But what happens when that positive thinking is taken to an extreme? What happens when it loses its nuance and becomes a blanket statement that means no one should ever express any negative thoughts or feelings at all?

This kind of “positivity” is prevalent on social media, especially among so-called lifestyle gurus or spiritual influencers. There seems to be an idea that you have to be positive all the time. Is that possible? Of course not! This mindset is a very negative and harmful one. To help you understand, let’s answer a few questions.

Here’s What You Should Know About Toxic Positivity

What is toxic positivity, and how does it affect us?

1. What Is Toxic Positivity?

Toxic positivity refers to an assumption and a mindset that you should be maintaining an entirely positive attitude and mindset no matter how complex or painful a situation is. It’s a simplified and decontextualized version of the real-life advice of transformative thinking, where negative thoughts can be assessed, understood, worked on, and transformed into positive ones.

But toxic positivity lacks any of that real-life nuance. It insists on positive vibes only, all the time. It insists that other people have it worse, so you have no right to feel this way. Finally, it insists that all the bad things that happen to you are entirely your fault because you weren’t positive enough.

You may have seen a lot of examples of toxic positivity in your life.

Here are a few examples:

Loved ones telling you to stop complaining and be grateful
Popular influencers implying that depression is a mindset that you can leave behind effortlessly
People refusing to be empathetic; if they can be happy, you can too
Social media posts or memes telling you to change the way you look at the world
An insinuation that you don’t have anxiety. You need to do some yoga and chill out
People telling you that everything happens for a reason, so you should be content regardless
The idea that happiness is a choice and you can choose happiness
Any complaints or expressions of emotion you feel being taken as intentional negativity

2. Toxic Positivity Forces Emotional Suppression

To forcefully be positive, even when it’s almost impossible, you will have to suppress many negative emotions. But suppressing emotions is extremely bad for you. When you say, “I’m fine, and everything is great,” when you are thinking, “I’m hurting very badly and am having trouble coping,” you worsen the negativity.

The ability to articulate true feelings with words, expressions, body language, emotes like crying, and general reflection is key to regulating and managing emotions. It’s also key to a more balanced stress response.

No matter how well you think you’re hiding your feelings, those emotions remain in your brain until they are addressed. In the meantime, they decay, grow more robust, and manifest in ways you may not be expecting.

Accepting and naming emotions is known to help them, not harm them. As such, toxic positivity stops you from regulating your feelings at all. Here are some studies that show how bad emotional suppression is for you and why it is wholly ineffective and managing strong feelings:

“Paradoxical effects of thought suppression” published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1987).

This study was one of the most famous that brought attention to the concept of paradoxical and counterproductive results from suppressing thoughts. It involved many experiments, but the key one is this. Individuals were told to verbalize a five-minute stream of consciousness while intentionally not thinking of a white bear.

They would give a signal if they did think of or mention a white bear, and it was quickly shown that they did think of this bear quite often. The second task was to think about the white bear for five minutes before suppressing the thought again – and this led to even more failures! As it turns out, experiencing something and then being told to not think about it and focus elsewhere actually doesn’t work at all and only worsens the likelihood that you’ll think about it.

“Hiding feelings: the acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion” published in Journal of Abnormal Psychology (1997).

This landmark study involved the division of participants into two separate testing groups. All participants were then monitored for stress responses while they were shown disturbing films of medical procedures.

The responses tested for were sweat production, heart rate, and pupil dilation, among others. The difference? One group was told to show their emotions openly, while the other was told to hide them and behave as if nothing was affecting them. Those who suppressed their feelings to act “normal” were shown to have a significantly higher stress response – their hidden feelings were secretly bubbling up inside them, despite their positive outward appearance!

“The Ability to Regulate Emotion is Associated with Greater Well-Being, Income, and Socioeconomic Status” published in Emotion (2014).

In this research paper, experts review the literature and discuss current and past evidence regarding emotional regulation. Emotional regulation refers to the ability to process, accept, and manage emotions on a reasonable scale – a positive trait born from emotional acceptance instead of repression.

All around, those who perform positive levels of emotional regulation have been determined to enjoy a better lifestyle from the standpoint of income, wellbeing, and socioeconomic viewpoints. Those who are more reactive and have difficulty managing their feelings tend to wind up in worse situations.

3. Toxic Positivity Stops Us From Growing

Want to learn and grow as a person? Then you can’t deny reality. Toxic positivity forces you to create a fake world in your head where you feel fine, and nothing affects you. Meanwhile, your mistakes are eating you up, and you’re making them again and again, hurting those around you as you fall into destructive patterns and cycles.

What’s the solution here, then? You need to accept negative feelings and process them to learn and grow from them. Thinking about the truth of how you feel and reflecting on those emotions can help you to improve yourself.

You’ll learn these truths:

What the roots of these feelings are
How you can manage these feelings
What the triggers of your emotions were
How you can better respond to triggers in the future
How you can prevent similar occurrences

If you only focus on toxic positivity, you won’t be able to think about these bad times, and you’ll miss out on all the valuable lessons that it could teach you.

4. Toxic Positivity Makes Us Feel Ashamed

Toxic positivity can cause a lot of feelings of guilt and shame, especially if you feel like:

You have no right to feel negative feelings
Something is wrong with you for feeling negative feelings.
You have to put on a mask of positivity, or else.
Even normal, basic emotions are automatically bad if they’re negative.

These kinds of thoughts easily lead to guilt, building things like denial and secrets in the background. You forget that it’s okay not to be okay sometimes and that it’s a normal, natural reaction to negative circumstances to feel not-too-great about them.

No one should feel ashamed of how they feel. Having emotions, to begin with is an inherently beautiful thing! It makes you human, and it means you’re alive and that your brain is functioning well and telling you the information you need.

Worse still, toxic positivity often affects your ability to feel normal emotions. You begin to stunt yourself and consider even the most basic negative feelings to be wrong by default, so you block out everything. The result is your former self’s shell, incapable of feeling things that you need to feel. Those things you’ve blocked out will always exist and will eat away at you slowly, and you won’t even be able to access them without significant effort or professional help.

Long story short? Don’t let yourself be cowed or shamed into pretending you don’t have human emotions. It is healthy to feel whatever comes naturally during difficult times. Putting pressure on yourself to be positive will only make all that positive thinking fake, whereas learning to understand your negative feelings and validating them has a better chance of boosting genuine positivity.

5. Toxic Positivity Damages Relationships

In close relationships, all parties do their best to support each other, lend a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear, or validate and be there for one another. Toxic positivity prevents this from happening, and it can alienate those you love and care about. This is because you may do these things:

Display inauthenticity by pretending to be happy when you aren’t and that inauthenticity bleeds into everything you do
Become dismissive of other people’s feelings and invalidate them in the guise of encouraging positivity
Miss out on supportive bonding opportunities with those around you
Begin to force others to behave in a pre-specified, overtly positive way, even when they don’t want to
May feel expected to put on a positive act for those around you, making your relationships less authentic
Bury emotions may manifest in moments where you lash out or behave negatively with others
Block out others and make them uncomfortable sharing things with you while preventing them from being themselves in your presence.

Relationships need honesty and truth to flourish and stay healthy. By demanding positivity from those around you and putting on a positive act, you’re creating a farce that will be damaging in the long run. Your relationships can’t continue to grow if everyone is hiding something.

Final Thoughts On What Toxic Positivity Is And How It Affects Us

Toxic positivity helps no one. While positive thinking is good for you, you can’t be happy all the time. Life isn’t constantly sunshine and rainbows, and it can feel very invalidating to have your emotions dismissed in favor of some faux happiness.

Instead of giving in to toxic positivity, live your truth. Allow yourself to experience negative emotions, then work through them. Positivity lies in your ability to continue moving forward and your capability to survive, not in any fake expressions of positive vibes.

Innovative Kenyan Woman Turns Plastic Waste into Building Materials

March 25, 2021 by Kristen Lawrence

An innovative engineer from Kenya transformed plastic headed for landfills into durable building materials. Nzambi Matee, an entrepreneur and materials engineer, felt inspired to reduce plastic pollution in her country. Gjenge Makers turns plastic waste from commercial facilities into bricks that can hold twice the weight threshold of concrete. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the innovative company hopes to tackle the huge plastic waste pollution problem in the country. A study by the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) discovered plastic in over 50% of cattle’ stomachs in Kenya’s urban areas. To remedy this, the Kenyan government prohibited the use of plastic bags beginning in 2017. They also enacted a ban on single-use plastic in protected natural areas in 2020. Unfortunately, commercial waste continues to cause problems in Kenya since the bans only apply to consumers. Nzambi told Reuters reporters that she got “tired of being on the sidelines” and came up with her own solution. With a background in materials engineering, she designed bricks composed of recycled plastic and sand. She then compressed and heated the materials to develop a durable, eco-friendly concrete alternative. Because of the plastic’s fibrous structure, it weighs much less than concrete; it’s surprisingly much stronger, too. Matee told Reuters about her innovative company’s pavers and bricks:

“Our product is almost five to seven times stronger than concrete.”

To obtain plastic, she buys some from recycling companies and gets the rest for free from local packaging factories. She says that currently, the Gjenge Makers factory can produce a maximum of 1,500 bricks each day.

The company makes bricks from a variety of plastics. These include:

high-density polyethylene, commonly used in items like milk and shampoo bottles;
low-density polyethylene, often used in bags for cereal or sandwiches;
and polypropylene, used for ropes, flip-top lids, and buckets.

However, she doesn’t utilize polyethylene terephthalate or PET, often used for plastic bottles.

What the innovative company has accomplished so far and plans to do in the future

The company offers pavers for both commercial and residential purposes. For commercial uses such as roads and areas with heavy machinery, companies can choose the heavy-duty 60 mm paver. The moderate duty paver measures 40 mm thick and can serve commercial areas as well. The 30 mm light-duty paver is more suitable for residential patios and footpaths. Twice the strength of concrete, the light-duty paver comes in many different colors that can be used in making home great designs like sunroom enclosures.

While the company got its start only four years ago, it’s already recycled around 20 tons of plastic since then. It also created 120 jobs in Nairobi, which boosts the economy in the area. Also, Gjenge Makers’ bricks are an affordable option compared to others on the market. They cost around $7.70 per square meter, compared to about $98 per square yard for concrete in the U.S. Matee wants to triple capacity by adding another larger production line. She also hopes to break even by the year’s end. She started the factory once she realized the government wouldn’t take action on the plastic pollution issue. Innovative people like Matee give us hope for the future, and remind us that we can make a difference. If you’d like to find out more about Gjenge Makers, check out their website or YouTube channel.

Plastic pollution problem in Kenya compared to developed nations.

Most people have become aware of the growing plastic pollution crisis all over the world. However, developing countries such as Kenya often suffer the most because of massive exports from western nations. Not to mention, countries like Kenya have been expanding their plastic industry due to a lack of viable alternatives. In wealthier nations like the U.S., other options are more accessible. Poorer nations like Kenya also lack the infrastructure to manage plastic waste properly. They also don’t have the funds to export it to other nations for processing, so these countries become overburdened. Plastic ends up littering waterways, roads, fields, and animal habitats. It even ends up in the front yards of people’s homes and animal feeds. Even though Kenya has strict laws against plastic pollution, lack of oversight and proper waste management exacerbates it.

Kenya cannot enforce the littering laws they have on the books.

Kenya passed a law that prohibits the production, selling, or use of plastic bags. Violators can face up to four years in prison or a $40,000 fine. Before the ban went into effect in 2017, Kenya produced about 4,000 tons of plastic each month. Supermarkets alone offered around 100 million bags to customers, and only half of them ended up in the trash. This means over 50 million bags entered waterways, roads, or other areas, which pose a risk to people and wildlife. In fact, about three out of ten animals in Kenya’s slaughterhouses had plastic in their stomachs. Also, plastic bag accumulation in places like Kibera, a Kenyan slum, led to several million micro-habitats for mosquitoes to breed. In turn, malaria cases increased dramatically due to illegal littering and dumping of plastic and other trash. Because of these devastating consequences, the Kenyan government finally took action on the plastic problem. However, innovative entrepreneurs like Matee know that citizens must do their part as well. We can’t just leave the problem for government officials to solve. Of course, reducing the consumption of plastic products will have the largest effect. However, recycling and reusing plastic, as Gjenge Makers does, also positively impact the environment.

Final thoughts: an innovative company in Kenya turns plastic into building materials

Gjenge Makers, a building material company in Kenya, transforms plastic waste into bricks for commercial and residential use. The company got started in 2017, recycling around 20 tons of plastic to date. It also helped the local economy by creating 120 jobs. Unfortunately, developing countries like Kenya bear the brunt of the plastic problem due to inadequate infrastructure. Not to mention, wealthy countries export plastic to these nations, compounding the pollution issue. However, it seems that countries around the world, including the U.S., now understand the severity of the problem. Hopefully, in the future, we can create all products using repurposed plastic or other safer alternatives.

10 Behaviors Reveal A Carb Addiction (And How to Stop)

March 25, 2021 by Power of Positivity

Are you a carb addict? Do you have a compulsive eating problem that makes you seek snack foods and sugar? Since a carb addiction usually comes with obesity, it’s no wonder that more than 42 percent of adults over the age of 20 are overweight.

The CDC states that the number of people obese in this county has become an epidemic.

Is it any wonder that people are overweight? If you drive down the street in any city in the US, you will find it lined with fast food establishments. Some of the options include burger joints, donut shops, ice cream stores, and any ethnic cuisine you can imagine.

Since Americans tend to be in a rush and overworked as a majority, stopping for a quick meal makes common sense. However, what makes sense for your time restraints doesn’t always mean it’s the best option for your waistline. Obesity can kill you as it causes complications with your heart, joints, lungs, and muscles.

Not to mention the higher rate of inflammation that accompanies this condition is known to cause cancer. The problem is all of this can be avoided if folks learn how to get their carb addiction under control.

Are You Addicted to Carbs?

How do you know if you’re a carb addict? While having a craving for sweets on occasion is not out of the ordinary, how can you tell if you’re a fanatic? Here are some common signs that you have a carb addiction.

1. You Finish Every Meal with a Dessert

Most people that are carb addicts don’t feel like any meal is complete without a dessert. It doesn’t matter if you just had a big platter of pancakes and bacon; you still crave something sweet to finish off your meal. Your constant sugary cravings for snack foods are a sign that you’re addicted to the sweet stuff.

2. You’re A Stress Eater

When life gets you down, and you feel stress, do you tend to engage in compulsive eating? Part of being a stress eater usually means you desire foods that contain carbs. Nothing makes you feel better than a bowl of macaroni and cheese with a side of peanut butter pie.

3. You’re Overweight

If you’re more than 30 pounds overweight, then you’re considered obese. Obesity is out of control in this country due to portion distortion and carbs.

Is it any wonder why programs such as Keto and Atkins are increasingly popular and help people shed tons of weight? Limiting carbohydrates and including more protein in your diet is always a good option.

4. You Gain Weight in Your Belly

Have you ever seen a “beer belly” on someone who drinks a lot of beer? It’s not the beer that is causing this swollen appearance, but rather the high amount of carbs in this drink. Alcohol has many carbs, and it’s not the only thing that can increase your midsection.

Filling up on sugary substances all day long, as well as soda and alcohol can increase your waistline dramatically. You can always tell someone who is addicted to carbs by the size of their stomach.

5. You Get Tired After A Meal

One sure way to see that you’ve consumed too many carbohydrates is that you get tired after eating a meal. When you don’t get the proper balance of foods and consume too much sugary stuff, your body goes into a slumbering state.

Remember the feeling you get after compulsive eating on Thanksgiving? Well, this same feeling happens after most meals where the carb count is too high.

6. You Have Type II Diabetes

Unlike juvenile diabetes or type I, type II is totally preventable by diet. If you’re eating foods that are laden with sugar and starches, then you’re going to have issues. It’s estimated that there are more than 88 million Americans with prediabetes, according to the CDC.

Prediabetes is the warning sign that you will develop type II if you don’t change your ways. Thankfully, you can reverse things by changing your eating habits immediately.

7. You Crave Bread, Pasta, and Sweets

A true carb addict will have a craving for bread, pasta, and sweets that they cannot control. It seems that you can’t get enough of these starches. When you regularly consume these foods, your body craves them as the sugary makeup gives you a euphoric feeling.

No wonder people want comfort foods when they’re sad or stressed out. You can have all of these things, but you must consume them in moderation.

Read seven signs that prove you are addicted to sugar.

8. You Can’t Limit Your Intake

The famous potato chip company used an advertising slogan that said that “No one can eat just one.” They didn’t realize how true this statement was for the carb addict. How many times have you sat down with a bag of cookies and realized you ate the whole bag when a serving is only four?

It’s easy to overeat when you crave sweets, and you have no control. You probably were snacking while binge-watching your favorite television shows. You lost count of how many you consumed as well as your feelings of fullness.

9. You’re Still Hungry After A Meal

How many times have you eaten a huge plate at dinner but still felt hungry after you ate? The problem is that you’ve consumed too many carbs. Your body always wants more of the starchy goodness, and it doesn’t seem to be able to limit you.

This is a common experience after eating Americanized Chinese foods. Real oriental foods don’t have the sugary content that it does in this country. So, when you’re eating General Tso’s Chicken with a heaping side of white rice, it’s like consuming pure sugar.

According to Diabetic Foodie, it’s not a health-friendly food as it’s packed with carbs, sugars, and sodium. Please pay attention to what you’re eating because it has a great deal to do with keeping you full and satisfied later.

10. You Crave Sugar as Soon as You Awaken

Your alarm clock goes off, alerting you it’s time to start another new day. As soon as you take care of your daily hygiene chores, you immediately begin craving bread and cereals. You can tell you have a carb addiction when you wake up, and it’s one of the first things on your mind.

Breaking the Habits Associated with Carb Cravings

So, after reading through this list, you’ve identified whether you have a problem with carbs. Thankfully, there are ways to combat this issue so that you can lose the weight you need and be healthier. Here are the three best ways:

1. Eat More Protein

When you eat more protein, your body feels fuller. Not only will it help to avoid those impulse binges, but it can make you feel satisfied after a meal. Lean protein is the key to controlling type II diabetes as well as getting off excessive weight.

2. Exercise When You Feel Like Eating

It’s often been said that weight loss begins in mind. If you want to lose weight, then you need to retrain your brain. Every time you feel hungry, you need to exercise when you feel like eating.

If it’s real hunger, the pangs won’t go away. However, if it has everything to do with your carb addiction, then retraining the brain to do something else will help.

3. Eat Healthy Fats

Healthy fats also help you to feel fuller and are good for your heart. Try to incorporate coconut oil, ghee, olive oil, and other more nutritious varieties. The ones to avoid include cottonseed oil, palm oil, and vegetable and soybean oils. According to Bonappetit, you want to avoid anything that’s “Partially hydrogenated.”

Final Thoughts on Breaking Your Carb Addiction

It’s hard to eat a balanced diet when there are so many temptations all around you. Even worse is the fact that you probably have a full schedule with little time to prepare something healthy from scratch. It seems so much easier to grab a burger and fries on the way home so that you have extra time to do the things you must do at home.

Sadly, Americans must spend more time considering their health as the obesity epidemic continues to rage out of control. US News published an article referencing a study that shows that being obese kills more than 598,000 people a year, which surpasses cancers.

Something must be done to combat the carb addiction that so many people face. It takes discipline to change your eating habits and select healthier foods. It’s not going to happen overnight, so you should be cautious and start slow.

There are many support groups for overeaters and people who have a problem with carbs and sugary substances, and the process of detoxing is similar to that of a drug. However, you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to do. The key is to believe in yourself and desire to be healthy.

American Heart Association Issues New Guidance on Nutrition

March 25, 2021 by Power of Positivity

It’s no secret that eating several servings of fruit and vegetables daily is the best way to maintain good health when it comes to your diet. You’ll feel better, live longer, and look your best if you incorporate the right portions in your diet. Conversely, if you don’t get enough of these food groups, your health may begin to decline, and it will show.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has guidelines on how much of these two food groups people should eat. This association has been a reliable source for cardiovascular health since its inception in 1924. The guidelines are updated periodically to reflect people’s diets in modern times, especially as science uncovers new research and developments into human health.

The American Heart Association has published a news release on March 1st, 2021, about new research into the guidelines on how many daily servings of fruit and vegetables is ideal. With people trying to live their healthiest lives more than ever, this research couldn’t have come at a perfect time.

Details of the News Release by the American Heart Association

The study’s lead researcher was Dr. Dong D. Wang, M.D., Sc.D., an epidemiologist, nutritionist, and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. His team included Yanpin Li, Ph.D., Shilpa N. Bhupathiraju, PhD., Bernard A. Rosner, Ph.D., Qi Sun, MD, ScD, and more.

Dr. Wang and his colleagues found evidence that the 5-a-day theory that the American Heart Association recommends is correct. Still, they made the recommendation more specific – two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables daily. According to their research, eating this combination seems to the right combination that promotes a longer lifespan.

This specific recommendation is significant because there hasn’t been much research into precisely the optimal mix. People have been following the American Heart Association’s loose guidelines and these guidelines certainly work, but anytime policies can get more specific, that leads to a better outcome.

The researchers compiled data from the Nurse’s Health Study (women, 1984 – 2014) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (men, 1986 – 2014). They included data for 66,719 women and 42,016 men. All participants were free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes at the start of the data selection.

The study pulled data from surveys given to participants every two to four years during the data selection length. These surveys included questions about the participants’ regular diet and health.

Out of 108,735 participants, the researchers documented 33,898 deaths during the length of the data selection. They recognized a correlation between people who lived longer with people who ate more fruit and vegetables.

Those with the longest life spans were the ones that regularly ate three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit. They also saw that the longer life span plateaued at five servings per day. In other words, eating more than five servings per day doesn’t expand your life any longer than only five servings per day.

One important note was that fruit juice and potatoes were not recommended as one of the servings in their study. This breaks away from current recommendations – the AHA currently suggests that 100% fruit juice and potatoes could serve fruit or vegetables.

It’s fair to say that their research included enough subjects to back up their theories significantly. Now people may be anxious to know if the AHA will officially adopt Dr. Wang’s research suggestions into their guidelines. The association allowed publishing the news release on their official website, so it’s not a far-fetched idea that they may use the research to update the guidelines.

How a Balanced Diet Helps You Live Longer

You may have heard a million times that eating right will help you live longer, but do you know how or why?

Food is your energy source. It’s like the gas you put in your car – it keeps you going. Just like gas has different grades correlating to the quality of the gas, food also does.

However, don’t think of food in grades. Think of it in terms of less healthy food to more nutritious food. The healthier your food is, the better, longer, and more efficient your body will run.

So, this leads to the question, “what makes food healthy or not healthy?”

Of course, anyone can probably name foods that are healthy and name foods that aren’t. However, if you understand what makes a particular food healthy, it’s much easier to make better decisions. Healthy foods will have these qualities:

Lots of nutrients.
Low to moderate amounts of calories.
Low to the moderate glycemic index.
More healthy fats than bad fats.

Out of these four qualities, the most important one is the first one. Food is indeed fuel, but more specifically, the nutrients in food are fuel. The nutrients are what interacts with your body’s functions and keep things working correctly. If a particular food doesn’t have very many nutrients, you’ll essentially be eating empty calories.

That’s one reason why fast food and snacks are not considered healthy foods. These foods don’t have many nutrients, to begin with, and once they’re cooked, cooking methods can kill off the little nutrients they have. Sure, this food might fill you up for a little while, but this food does nothing to expand your life and everything to expand your waistline.

Healthy foods are usually lower in calories than unhealthy foods. While this isn’t a rule that’s set in stone, it’s one that you can bet on.

The same goes for healthy fats vs. unhealthy fats. Healthy foods will contain more of the good fats – monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat. Unhealthy foods will have more saturated fats and trans fats. Look at the label for quick identification.

Finally, healthy foods won’t shoot up your blood sugar levels. This is especially important for people with diabetes. A fast spike in blood sugar will give you a temporary energy boost, but you’ll also get an equally dramatic crash right after that. Plus, blood sugar levels that constantly fluctuate dramatically lead to a whole host of other health problems that can shorten your life span.

You may think it’s easy to identify healthy foods and unhealthy foods. Most fruit and vegetables fall under healthy foods, but some of these could be unhealthy depending on the circumstances. If you pay attention to these four qualities, it will be easy to identify healthy foods over unhealthy foods. You should also keep other everyday things in mind like calories, carbohydrates, and more, but these four qualities won’t ever lead you in the wrong direction.

Foods That Help You Live Longer

As stated before, the nutrients that food provides are what lead to a longer lifespan. In general, all nutrients help you live longer because your body needs them. However, some offer more benefits than others. If you eat the right foods, you’ll get a whopping dose of these nutrients.

Here are some of the best foods you can eat for longer life:

Oatmeal – choose one with lots of fiber; fights bad cholesterol.
Avocado – a superfood that fights heart disease
Olive oil – contains polyphenols that promote a healthy brain.
Bell peppers – full of vitamins and antioxidants
Tea – all types; promotes weight loss through increased metabolism.
Coffee – gives you energy and fights inflammation.
Leafy greens – spinach, kale, arugula, cabbage, lettuce
Beans/Legumes – all types; a superfood that has all the right stuff and little to none of the wrong stuff
Chia Seeds – full of fiber and antioxidants
Blueberries – to fight inflammation and help boost memory.
Apples – fights against diabetes.
Red wine – has flavonoids that promote good overall health.
Almonds – lots of fiber, protein, and healthy fats
Walnuts – helps to lower cholesterol and promotes a healthy brain.
Dark Chocolate – fights disease and inflammation.
Salmon – rich in Omega-3 fats (a healthy fat)

Final Thoughts on the American Heart Association Recommendations

This new research doesn’t discredit anything that the American Heart Association has been recommending over the years. In fact, it strengthens it. The AHA will continue to be a primary authority worth listening to when it comes to heart health and living a long, healthy life.

As researchers and scientists continue to work with the association to discover new or better ways to live longer, people will continually have better lives. Keep this research in mind, and be sure to check with the American Heart Association often for the newest recommendation of the correct daily servings of fruit and vegetables. You’ll be glad you did.

Psychology Explains What Happens When Someone Feels Emotional Abandonment

March 25, 2021 by Power of Positivity

Do you have feelings of emotional abandonment, and do you think it stems from your childhood? It’s not uncommon to feel neglect issues, but you may not be able to put your finger on the root cause. It’s a fallacy that these feelings only come from things like mistreatment, divorce, death, or illness.

The truth is that you can have someone lay beside you in bed every night and still feel these feelings of abandonment. The premise for this mental concern has nothing to do with closeness or the proximity of a person. Still, it’s more about not having a connection with that individual, or your emotional needs are being overlooked.

Understanding Your Emotional Needs

Your emotions are not something that you’re fully aware of, and you may not know what’s missing in your life. Your relationships have both physical and emotional needs, and when one is not being fulfilled, it can cause you to be off-kilter.

The basic mental health needs of a person include these things:

Listened to
Understood
Nurtured
Appreciated
Accepted
Valued
Loved
Treated as an equal companion

When things aren’t right in your relationship, your emotional needs are unmet. This is often observed in cases where there is emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or there is a high amount of conflict between the couple. Another issue that can bring feelings of emotional abandonment is infidelity.

What about cases where one partner has a substance abuse issue? It’s only normal that the other person feels neglected, and it can turn into feelings of abandonment. When an individual is deep in the throes of addiction, their substance abuse problem is the driving force in their life.

Being addicted to an illegal substance prevents a person from giving their all to a relationship, and thus, the other individual suffers. There are numerous reasons why one party might feel that their emotional needs aren’t being met in a relationship, but the key is to identify what’s not working and fix it. If the connection cannot be repaired, then it’s not healthy to stay in a toxic situation.

Origins of Emotional Abandonment

You should note that emotional abandonment is a feeling, and it can come about even when you’re in a healthy relationship. It’s normal to have moments when your thoughts or feelings lead you down this path, and it can be unconscious or an intentional view.

Here are some things that psychiatrists and counselors have observed that can trigger these feelings:

Parenting demands
Hectic work schedules
Lack of communication
Lack of affection
Intentionally withholding intimacy
Severe or ongoing illness
Not spending time together
A narcissistic partner
Unresolved hurts
Intimacy fears
Living separate lives
Infidelity
Falling out of love

Establishing Common Ground

It’s a common belief that opposites attract, and it’s good to have various interests to keep things interesting. However, it would help if you had enough common interests that you enjoy spending time together. Assume that you love to go to thrift stores and flea markets because the thrill of the hunt gets your mojo going.

However, your partner loathes these places and sees them as a waste of time. It’s hard to find time to spend together when you don’t like to do the same things. If you want to go to the movies and your partner prefers to stay home and “Netflix and chill,” then it’s easy to see how this could cause feelings of abandonment.

It would help if you made time to spend together. If you don’t have any evident interests, then find new things to do that you both can enjoy. When you have new experiences, it keeps the relationship alive. When you do the same thing day in, and day out, it only causes you to feel stagnate. It takes hard work to keep things fresh.

Dealing with Resentment

Damaging and harmful communication patterns occur when you don’t know how to be open and honest with each other. You should be able to share your feelings and thoughts with your partner without fear of any repercussions.

When you feel that your partner doesn’t care about what you’re saying, doesn’t respect your opinions, or isn’t even really listening, then you may stop trying to communicate. It’s effortless to build walls of resentment because you feel that you’re not on the same page. The person who has laid beside you for 20 years, every night, can become a stranger.

Many couples live separate lives and don’t even realize it. When you talk to your neighbors, friends, and relatives more than you talk to your partner, it’s a sign that something isn’t right in your relationship. If you’re no longer being sexually intimate or having any particular time just to be a couple, then it’s a sign that your relationship is in trouble.

When your feelings get hurt, or you have anger towards issues that you haven’t communicated to your partner, it’s easy for resentment to build. If these issues are not addressed promptly, then you may push or pull away from your partner. Do you want to avoid any criticism or undercutting comments from them?

Many people develop expectations for how the conversation about their feelings will go, and they avoid having this vital talk. The fact is that when you don’t communicate, you put the other partner in a precarious situation. They must become mind readers and determine why you’re upset or hurt.

Communication is an essential part of any relationship. If you cannot openly talk to your partner about your feelings, then you’re setting yourself up for resentment and disappointment in the union.

The Fear of Intimacy

It sounds silly to say that an adult has a fear of intimacy, but it’s something that people see psychiatrists for every day. These fears can come from their past or the trauma they’ve experienced. Someone who has been sexually abused might view sex as something that brought them so much pain, so their brain is programmed to view this act as harmful.

While their body might enjoy the feelings associated with sex, their mind is stuck in the past and the things that happened to them. How can they get over these feelings to be present in their relationship? The fear of intimacy from one partner will leave the other person to suffer.

Though you’ve done nothing wrong, the past abuse is driving a wedge in your otherwise great relationship. The person who has the fears of being close may push you away, put up walls, or close off when it comes to the topic of intimacy. Typically, these fears aren’t conscious, and they need counseling to retrain their brain to think about such matters differently.

Emotional abandonment can most certainly come from issues of intimacy. When one person isn’t present in the relationship physically, it can cause turmoil emotionally. It’s hard for you to understand when you’ve not been through the same things as your partner. So, you might feel alone, unwanted, and abandoned.

Childhood Plays A Significant Role in Adulthood

Many of the issues that plague you in adulthood come from your childhood. Was your mother emotionally able to take care of you as an infant? Did you have a bond with her and she with you?

Being a mother is overwhelming, especially when your mother might have come from a traumatic background. If she didn’t know how to handle stress appropriately, it could cause an attachment disorder between her and the child. When an infant is going through the foundational stage of emotional development, a mom must be in-tune with her child’s needs.

If your mom was fixated on her life and problems, cold towards you, or incapable of empathizing with your feelings, then you felt alone and rejected. When your needs go unmet for long periods, you form feelings of abandonment. Sadly, it’s not just in infancy that these fears can stem from childhood.

As you grew and aged, you may have felt controlled, criticized too much, received unfair treatment, or were given responsibilities that weren’t age-appropriate. All these things can cause feelings of emotional abandonment. When you suppress feelings as a viable coping skill, it only causes issues later in life.

You must deal with these problems either then or now because they can cause significant issues.

Final Thoughts on Emotional Abandonment

Feelings of abandonment, either emotional or physical, must be addressed. Your partner may do everything right in your relationship, and your past issues will drive a wedge between the two of you. Counselors talk with people every day whose past is haunting them in the present.

Whatever is the reason behind your emotional abandonment issues, you need to get to the root of it to process these feelings. If you don’t process them and move on, they will haunt every relationship you have in the future. Additionally, these feelings of abandonment can also spread to friendships.

20 Positive Self-affirmations Help You Love Your Body As It Is

March 22, 2021 by Sarah Barkley

Your body is special and unique, and you should love your body as it is right now. If you struggle with loving your body, use these positive self-affirmations to help you achieve self-love. Having positive thoughts about your body will help you feel confident and boost your self-esteem.

When you can love your body, you will be surer of yourself. This will help you try new things and go after new opportunities. Plus, it will make your relationships stronger since your thoughts won’t be so negative all of the time.

Positive Self-affirmations Help You Love Your Body

With regular practice, you will feel love for your body without any reminders. For now, though, these positive self-affirmations can help you love your body as it is. Repeat them in the morning as you get ready for the day, at night before bed, or throughout the day as needed.

1. I love my body and the things that make me unique.

You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t have things that made you unique. Looking like every other person in the world would mean that you aren’t special. You are special, though, which is why you should embrace the things that set you apart.

Love your body and all of the things that make you different. If your differences are what you don’t like about yourself, remember these positive self-affirmations. It will remind you that your unique qualities are things that you should love about yourself.

2. I approve of myself, and my approval is all that I need.

As long as you approve of yourself, you have already done all that you need to do. The approval of anyone else doesn’t matter. Focus on learning to approve of yourself, and you can love your body as it is right now.

3. I love that my body protects me and keeps me safe.

If you can’t think of anything else, at least your body offers protection and keeps you safe. While there are many other things to love about your body, this one is undisputable. Your body protects all of your vital organs, helping to keep you alive each day.

4. I am confident and believe in myself.

With self-confidence, you can do anything. You can even become more beautiful with self-confidence and a belief in yourself. Being confident will help you radiate positivity, helping you feel better about yourself and portray beauty.

5. I am kind to myself and treat myself with compassion.

With kindness and compassion, you will surely begin to love your body as it is. Don’t say or think bad things about yourself, and give yourself grace when you make mistakes. Be compassionate about your imperfections, and acknowledge that they make you unique.

6. I am powerful, and I become stronger each day.

Your body gives you so much power and, as you use your body, it only gets stronger. Repeat this positive self-affirmation whenever you feel weak or unworthy. You are strong and powerful, no matter what.

7. I love all that my body does for me.

Your body provides you with the ability to talk, walk, sit down, eat food, and any other thing you enjoy doing. Be grateful for all that your body enables you to do, and learn to love it just as it is.

8. I accept and believe compliments given to me.

When you don’t love your body, it can be hard to accept compliments or believe them. You might convince yourself that the person complimenting you is making fun of you, even if they aren’t. Use this positive self-affirmation to remind yourself that it isn’t the case.

When you receive a compliment, it is true and sincere. Accept the compliment and allow it to boost your self-confidence.

9. I will practice self-love every chance I get today.

With regular self-love, you will surely learn to love your body. Take care of yourself, love yourself, and embrace the body that you have.

10. I am more than good enough just the way I am right now.

You and your body are perfect just the way you are. Repeat this positive self-affirmation to help you love and embrace your body.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you aren’t enough, and don’t ever feel like you aren’t. You are a positive and valuable part of the world, and you must see yourself that way.

11. I love myself more each day.

Use this positive self-affirmation each morning as you get ready for the day. It will help you stay positive and confident as you go through your daily routine. With this affirmation, you will instill a positive habit of self-love.

12. I replace negative thoughts with positive self-talk.

When your thoughts turn negative, you are more likely to feel bad about your body. If you notice that your mindset is shifting toward negativity, repeat this affirmation until you feel better. Say and think only positive things about your body, and replace the negative thoughts with positive ones.

13. I choose to love myself today.

Every feeling and mindset you have is a choice. You are in control of your thoughts, so make sure you are choosing healthy ones. Before you begin your day, repeat this positive self-affirmation so that you show yourself more love than usual.

14. I am perfect as I am right now, and this is who I am supposed to be.

Remember that you are perfect just as you are because it is a true statement. You are the person you were intended to be, and that alone makes you perfect. Even with flaws and imperfections, you are perfect because you were meant to have those unique qualities.

15. I surround myself with people who know my worth.

If you surround yourself with negative people who put you down, you must make a change. The people you choose to spend your time with can directly affect your thoughts, feelings, and ideas of yourself.

Surround yourself with people that don’t put you down and that support and love you. These are the people that will see your worth and contribute positively to your body image.

16. I am worthy of respect and love.

Don’t ever let anyone mistreat you because you feel like you aren’t deserving. Your negative self-thoughts can cause you to believe that no one will ever truly love you. That isn’t the case, though, and you should never settle.

Acknowledge that you are worthy of being respected and fully loved instead. With that knowledge, you will learn to love your body, and you will know that others do, too.

17. I am equipped with all of the tools I need to succeed.

As mentioned before, your body provides you with power and strength, and it allows you to do many things. The benefits don’t stop there, however. Your body is equipped with everything you need to get through life.

You will need your brain to help you figure things out and make the right choices. Your limbs are necessary to pick things up and move from place to place. Plus, you can find any other tools you need to be successful right inside of your body.

18. I will make time to take care of myself.

Taking care of yourself is essential if you want to love your body as it is. Give your body nutrients and proper hydration, get enough sleep and get regular check-ups with your doctor. If you know that you are healthy, you can better love yourself and the body that you have right now.

19. I set boundaries for myself and my body, and I respect those boundaries.

Setting boundaries is important because it allows you to respect yourself. Plus, they will set a precedent for the respect you receive from others. People will see how you treat yourself and expect to be treated by others, so you must make your boundaries clear.

20. I have many good qualities, and I acknowledge them.

Find the things that you love about yourself, and think about them in moments of negativity. Repeat this affirmation as you consider your good qualities. Doing so will help you feel better, give you confidence, and boost your self-esteem as you begin to love your body.

Final Thoughts on Positive Self-affirmations Help You Love Your Body as It Is

These positive self-affirmations can help you love your body as it is right now. If you struggle with your body image, learning to love yourself can make a big difference in your life.

Repeating these positive self-affirmations each day can instill positive habits that help you naturally love your body. Over time, you won’t even need reminders to feel love for what sets you apart from others.

Always remember that your unique qualities are what make you special and beautiful. Know that your body is enough and that you are worthy of respect and kindness. Embrace your body and learn to love it as it is right now.

15 Quotes to Help You Win Your Inner Spiritual War

March 21, 2021 by Sarah Barkley

Inner spiritual war happens when good and bad thoughts contradict one another. While it sounds like a religious term, the struggle may or may not involve your faith.

Spiritual wars can break out inside anyone, even people who always seem to do the right thing.

These inner wars are personal, and you can only win them on your own. If you can stay confident, believe in yourself, and stay strong throughout, you are sure to win. Plus, if you know that you are doing the right thing, you can lay the negative thoughts to rest.

Fifteen Quotes to Help You Win Your Inner Spiritual War

Sometimes it isn’t as simple as pushing the thoughts away, however. The inner war that you are experiencing can be harder to win than it sounds. When this is the case, remember these quotes to help you win the war.

1. “When we pay attention, whatever we are doing is transformed and becomes part of our spiritual path.” – Rick Fields

Focus on what you are doing and what you hope to achieve. When you pay attention, you will do everything better and with more passion. Whatever you are doing will become a part of who you are and who you become.

When you feel like there is a war inside of you, remember this quote. It will help you pay attention to what you are doing right then instead of thinking about other things. This way, you can win your inner war.

2. “You have to expect spiritual warfare whenever you stand up for righteousness or call attention to basic values. It’s just a matter of light battling the darkness. But the light wins every time. You can’t throw enough darkness on light to put it out.” – Thomas Kinkade

You might experience inner war whether you did the right thing or the wrong. Even when you are speaking up for what is right, there will be a battle. As long as you tune into what is good, though, the war will end, and you will know you did what was right.

As Kincade explains, light always wins over darkness. If both are present, feel confident in yourself and know that good will win every time.

3. “When your life is filled with the desire to see the holiness in everyday life, something magical happens: ordinary life becomes extraordinary, and the very process of life begins to nourish your soul!” – Rabbi Harold Kushner

Look for the good things in your life or the world around you. When you do, you will see that there is always something magical happening in your life. Paying attention to the great things around you can help you defeat your inner war quickly.

4. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Always be confident and believe in yourself. You are doing great things, and you will achieve so much if you keep this mindset through everything.

It might take you longer than you’d like to reach your goals, but you will get there. All that you have to do is keep moving forward and trust in yourself.

5. “He who has conquered his own coward spirit has conquered the whole outward world.” – Thomas Hughes

Don’t let your worries and fears hold you back. If you want to conquer your inner spiritual war, you must fight through those feelings. Do what is right and do what you believe in, and you will have won the war.

6. “Loving people is the highest level of spiritual warfare that we could ever do.” – Joyce Meyer

If you are experiencing an inner spiritual war, try giving love to others and see what happens. Usually, loving others will provide the help that you need to win the war that is happening inside of you.

Love leads to other good things, and it leads to happiness and peace in your life. As long as you can give love, you can rest assured that you will win the war.

7. “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” – Rabindranath Tagore

Keep learning as you go through life, and focus on learning things aligned with your beliefs and values. The best education you can receive is the kind that gives your life meaning and helps you understand things better. This type of learning is a sure way to help you win the war you are battling inside.

8. “Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse

Instead of thinking about the spiritual war, you are struggling with, look for the stillness and sanctuary that Hesse describes. If you can find the stillness within yourself, you will always have a safe place to retreat. By finding that place within yourself, you will eliminate any war going on inside of you.

9. “One of the enemy’s sneaky attacks against the joy of our salvation is to put us in the spiral of self-condemnation.” – Linda Evans Shepherd

When you experience an inner war, it is because you’re having negative thoughts about yourself. Let these thoughts and feelings go because believing them will cause you to win the war. You must value and believe in yourself and remain confident if you want to overcome and win.

10. “If fear is cultivated, it will become stronger; if faith is cultivated, it will achieve mastery.” – John Paul Jones

When you want to win your inner spiritual war, you must cultivate your faith. If you cultivate your fears instead, then you will find yourself losing the war. Focus on the aspect that you want to shine through, and you will find that you master that aspect.

11. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

When you have a war waging inside of you, you must figure out what needs to change. There is something in your life that you are not fully content with. Once you figure out what that thing is, you can work to change it.

While everyone is busy trying to change the entire world, you can do more by focusing on yourself. There are things about you that you can change to make the world a better place. If you can figure those things out and work to change them, you will find that you have won the war.

12. “Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.” – David Elton Trueblood

Many people think that having faith means you believe things without having proof. That isn’t what faith is, however. Instead, faith is fully trusting in something, whether you can see it or not.

If you can trust yourself or a higher power, you will find that the inner war is easier to win. With faith and trust, anything is possible, and you only have to remember it will all work out for the best.

13. “Every victorious warrior draws his strength from the highest source; his love.” – Tapan Ghosh

Love always wins. It wins over hate, war, disdain, and any other negative thing you can think of. If you want to win your inner war, remember to give love as often as you can.

Don’t only give love, but be open to receiving it, as well. With love, you can trust that your life will work out for the best and that you will win the war.

14. “Faith gives you an inner strength and a sense of balance and perspective in life.” – Gregory Peck

With faith, anything is possible. Having faith gives you everything you need to overcome hardship or inner turmoil. It will help you become stronger and gives balance and perspective, as Peck explains.

With all of these benefits of faith, it is easy to see why it helps win inner spiritual wars. If you can stay strong, believe in yourself, and gain perspective, you can surely win the fight.

15. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare

Please don’t rely on anyone else to fulfill your destiny, and don’t expect it to happen by chance. You must do what it takes to reach your full potential. Look inside and remember what you are capable of, and don’t let the war inside convince you that you can’t overcome.

Final Thoughts on Quotes to Help You Win Your Inner Spiritual War

Winning an inner spiritual war is a true accomplishment. It is a war that you can only win alone, and you must have faith in yourself and self-confidence to overcome.

As you work through your inner spiritual war, remember these quotes to help you. They can give you the motivation to overcome any thoughts or feelings that you experience. Remember, if you do what is right, you can win the war every time.

15 Positivity in Life Quotes to Reduce Your Fears

March 19, 2021 by Sarah Barkley

Feeling afraid once in a while is a part of life, but you can reduce the fear you feel. If you don’t reduce the fear and instead allow it to hold you back, your life won’t be as fulfilled as it could be. To avoid missing out on great things, use these positivity in life quotes to reduce your fears.

Sometimes, fear is a way to signal an unsafe situation but, more often than not, it indicates the unknown. When you step out of your comfort zone to experience new things or opportunities, it is normal to feel afraid. In this instance, you must push through the fear to do what you know will better your life.

If you can reduce your fears and overcome them, you will go on to live the life intended for you. Reducing them can help you become the person you want to be and help you learn and grow. Use the advice and motivation found in these positivity in life quotes to help you get through.

Fifteen Positivity in Life Quotes to Reduce Your Fears

Don’t miss out on the best things in life. Read these wise words to muster your courage.

1. “Everything you have ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear.” – George Addair

If you don’t overcome your fears and get through them, you won’t get what you want out of life. Push through, face your fears, and know that it will all be well worth it.

2. “Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” – Marie Curie

When you are afraid of something, it is because you don’t fully understand it. Take the time to learn about the things you don’t understand so you can reduce your fears. Keep an open mind as you try to understand things, and you will overcome your fears even quicker.

3. “Fears are educated into us, and can if we wish, be educated out.” – Karl A. Menninger

Sometimes you will learn to be afraid of something, but you can change that. Learn more about what you’re scared of and work to understand it. Then, you will notice that the fear doesn’t overcome you or hold you back any longer.

4. “Fear and anxiety many times indicates that we are moving in a positive direction, out of the safe confines of our comfort zone, and in the direction of our true purpose.” – Charles F. Glassman

If you feel fearful, remember that it usually means you are heading down the right path. Moving outside of your comfort zone is sure to cause fear, but know that it helps you move forward. By stepping out of your comfort zone and overcoming fear, you can live the life that is meant for you.

5. “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

You will never reduce your fears if you don’t do anything about them. Staying home to avoid what you are afraid of will only cause the fear to become worse. Get out there and face your fears so that you can overcome them.

Each time you face your fear, you will be a little closer to eliminating the fear. Keep putting yourself out there even when it is uncomfortable so that you can reduce your fears.

6. “Don’t be afraid of your fears. They’re not there to scare you. They’re there to let you know that something is worth it.” -C. JoyBell C.

When you are afraid, it can be an indicator that something is important to you. Don’t let your fear scare you out of trying new things or moving forward. Instead, embrace the feeling and remember that whatever is coming will be worth it.

7. “Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit.” – Sarah Parish

Sometimes taking risks is beneficial to you. It can help you find new opportunities, try new things, and live a more fulfilling life. Don’t let fear hold you back because it is the only way to experience the best things in life.

8. “Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming.” – Robert Tew

You are stronger than you realize, and you can get through any situation that you find yourself in. Trust that you are making the right decisions, and you will notice that your fears reduce drastically. When you can trust in yourself, you will know that you will survive anything.

9. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

It is normal to feel afraid sometimes, but you must face your fears. As you face your fears, you will become stronger, more courageous, and more confident with yourself.

When you keep going despite your fears, you can use it as a stepping stone for more things to come. You will be more prepared for whatever comes next, and you will be more resilient.

10. “When you confront the monster you fear the most, you’ll defeat your fears.”
David D. Burns

One sure way to reduce your fear to confront and overcome them. Letting your fears hold you back or avoiding them will only cause them to get worse.

Don’t let what you are afraid of hold you back. Get out there and confront your fears so that you can truly live your life.

11. “Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison

If you want to eliminate your fears, do as Morrison suggests and expose yourself to them. Each time you face your fears, you will become less afraid of doing it again. As time goes on, you will notice that your fear is gone, and it no longer lingers in your mind.

Once fear loses its power over you, then you no longer have to worry about it. By overcoming your fear, you will feel like you have been set free, so keep working on it.

12. “Fear isn’t only a guide to keep us safe; it’s also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.” -Donald Miller

While sometimes fear can be an indicator that something is unsafe, that isn’t always the case. Feeling afraid is often a manipulative mindset that holds you back from doing new things or moving forward.

An easy way to tell the difference is to ask yourself whether you are currently in danger. If the answer is ‘no,’ you should face your fear and experience whatever is coming next.

13. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela

Courageous and brave people still experience fear sometimes, but they overcome it. They face their fears and know that the discomfort they experience will lead to something much better. Facing your fears is the way to live the life you have always dreamed of.

14. “I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” – Steve Maraboli

When you feel afraid, take a step back and reassess the situation. Remember that nothing is as bad as it initially seems, as Maraboli explains. You can work through any problem, so overwhelming yourself with fear and negativity won’t help.

Instead, please take a deep breath and figure out a way to deal with and face it. You can overcome any fear if you remember this positivity in life quotes to reduce your fears.

15. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks

If you can’t seem to overcome the fear that you feel, make a decision. By making a decision, your fear will reduce because you know what you are doing next. While it may not completely erase your fears, it will help minimize them so that you can feel a little better.

Final Thoughts on Positivity in Life Quotes to Reduce Your Fears

It is normal to feel fearful sometimes in life, but reducing those fears is essential. By reducing them, you will allow yourself to experience life, try new things, and continually better yourself. When you begin to feel fearful, remember these positivity in life quotes to reduce your fears.

These positivity in life quotes will help you remember why you must keep pushing forward. The quotes will also help you trust in yourself as you do things that seem uncomfortable at first.

The only way to reduce your fear to avoid letting them control your life and face them directly. It won’t be easy initially, but the more you put yourself out there and face your fears, the more your fears diminish.

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