Practicing positive thinking during pregnancy and birth

I'm doing an experiment today. Will you join me? I've decided to replace every negative thought that enters my head with a positive thought. Every single thought no matter what it is. Even if it's about your appearance, your money problems, your self-esteem, your relationship. Your pregnancy. Your birth. Let's replace any negative thought and turn it into a positive one today.

Instead of, "We have no money. There's no hope that things will ever get better," say, "We are making it and things will get better."

Instead of, "My belly looks so huge and fat," say, "My belly is amazing! It is nourishing my sweet baby and means she is growing."

Instead of, "I am scared to give birth," say, "I am looking forward to giving birth, and it will be a joyous and wonderful experience."

Instead of, "I am too weak to handle the pain," say, "I am strong and capable! I can overcome anything!"

Make sense?

After going with my husband to pick up some of his clothes from the seamstress, I read yet another article telling me to "think positively." I'll admit that I am not the best at this. When things are not going very well, how in the world is positive thinking supposed to change that? I'll admit I haven't really been a believer.

But it's everywhere! And I've decided to experiment.

Because you know why? There are a few things that I do think positively about. One is birth. Birth is amazing. I had such a wonderfully good and positive attitude about my birth, and you know what happened? I had a great birth!

And the day that I decided to play my flute in recital hour and walk out like I thought I was the stuff, everyone came up to me afterward and told me I played the best they'd ever heard me play. I didn't really play any better than usual; I just had a way better stage presence and attitude.

So back to the article yesterday. (It was in an actual magazine and not a blog post. Imagine that!) I decided this morning that I was going to commit to this experiment. I'm going to replace my negative thoughts with positive ones and I don't even have to believe the positive ones. All I have to do is think positive thoughts. And you want to know something funny? I suppose just by virtue of saying, "Hey, guess what Negative Thoughts, if you come into my brain today you're getting banished," they've decided to stay away. I think the fact that I'm not trying to not have any negative thoughts, but instead making myself just rephrase the negative thoughts in a positive way, is really helping. I find myself frustrated when I try to just think positively. 

So for today only, I'm doing this experiment. And if it goes well, and it has so far, I will try it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's practicing. I'm going to practice positive thinking for awhile and see how it goes. Try it for yourself and be sure to let me know how it goes!