How positive thinking will make your life better over 50

Good and bad theories for positive thinking

Positive thinking is an art that requires practice and a little patience. 

You may find ideas that help you and others that don’t do anything for you. 

It’s all about trial and error so don’t give up when you find something is more frustrating than helpful.

Unhelpful advice is just that! Toss it aside.

I met someone that spoke a lot about positive thinking so I asked her how could I be more positive about everything.

She told me that all I had to do was to imagine what I wanted and it would become a reality for me.

I tried that. Nothing changed.

There are many books and articles that suggest you fake it until you make it. 

Have you tried to fake positive faking? It’s really weird!

Change your negative thought into positive thoughts. 

For example:

• I feel tired and unmotivated today.

Change to

• I am feeling better and will do a few things on my list.

Or

• Go for a short walk, treat yourself to a cup of coffee and start doing a few things on your list. Take a break and check in with your feelings.

Changing my thoughts and doing some sort of movement like walking helps me shift my mood and be more positive.

Visualise

Another theory that I learned was to close my eyes and visualise what I wanted and then imagine that it had happened.

I enjoyed that so much. I finally had an excuse to daydream for hours.

But all that daydreaming or visualising never changed anything in my life.

I did feel a lot more relaxed after each session so there was a positive side to this.

I needed something more interactive.

Writing

I was told to list my wishes and then write how I saw these different scenarios evolving and changing my life. There is a specific way to to do this and I’m not sure I did that correctly.

The writing helped me see clearly what I wanted in the future.

Seeing everything on paper helped me organise my thoughts and I was able to implement some things in my life.

I love writing and I journal almost every day.

Writing did help me shift my thoughts but I still needed more help with positive thinking.

• I made a list of things I wanted in my life.
• I wrote out how I would get them accomplished.
• I wrote my negative thoughts.
• I changed my negative sentences into positive sentences.

Dream Boards

I went to a fun workshop where we had to do a collage that would change our lives.

We had to place certain images that represented our wishes in different parts of the board so that those wishes would come true.

Since I am an artistic person I had the best time creating the collage board.

The dream board did not help me shift or change my life. I think it would have been better if it were accompanied by writing and more interactive things. But it was fun.

Viva Laurie Santos and her online course!

I did a very good course called the Science of Well-Being taught by Professor Laurie Santos. It’s an online course developed by Yale University.

Laurie Santos is a fantastic teacher and her course was VERY helpful to me!

Each session is very informative and then it’s up to us if we want to research any of the topics a bit more deeply.

I chose to research WOOP more deeply and have been using it ever since.

I read the book: Rethinking Positive Thinking by Gabriele Oettingen and learned more about WOOP.

WOOP stands for Wish, Objective, Obstacle, Plan

My Interpretation

I connected with this theory because the author, Ms. Oettingen included the obstacle and then a plan to work with the obstacle and obtain the objective and wish. This meant that I was not going to just sit there and visualise.

This is how I am doing this:

Wish: I think of one thing that I really want to accomplish and I keep the wording simple.

Objective: I go through the specific objectives that I am interested in.

Obstacle: This is the hardest part because it means that I need to be very honest with myself! I then think about the obstacles that I create. I choose the most important ones. Again the idea is to keep this short and simple.

Plan: I create a plan to overcome the obstacle. The idea is to create a “If this then that”

WOOP has an app

I am hooked on the app and it has simplified how I WOOP.

I use the app when I feel that I’m digressing or a little overwhelmed.

Links for you

Book: Rethinking Positive Thinking by Gabriele Oettingen

Woopmylife

WOOP app (apple store)

I am not affiliated with anyone!)

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Updated July 2025