How Positive Thinking Helps When You Catch a Cold

It will probably not surprise you when I say that my motivation in asking this question comes from the fact that I have caught a cold. I have managed to avoid all those bugs which circulate so easily for at least the last two years, so I don't suppose that I should grumble. What I will say is that the symptoms I am experiencing in the present moment feel as if all of those sore throats and snivels which I managed to miss have all decided to come forth at once!

I happen to have one of those personalities which adapts easily to circumstances; if something good happens I enjoy it and if something bad happens I just get on with it. A kind of "what will be, will be" attitude with a twist; the twist is that if there is a way to think more positively about whatever is going on then that is the attitude I will choose to take.

It is because of this positive attitude of mine that I was so surprised when I managed to catch this cold. Usually everyone around me can succumb and I will remain in good shape; I really don't expect to catch colds. But when I do catch something, boy, I catch it! I never cease to be surprised by individual people's reactions to colds. So many people automatically assume that it is the flu that you (or they) have got; rarely does anyone refer to the common cold. What is this? Surely you'd prefer to have a simple cold as opposed to the flu? I know that's what I prefer. Wouldn't it feel better to have a more positive attitude?

I have only spoken with a couple of people today about this cold of mine. One asked if I needed to cancel my flight which I'm travelling on later today. What? Because I have a cold? They sounded as if they thought I should be hospitalized, or at the very least I should remain in bed for the best part of a week. I can only imagine the negative thinking scenarios which were running through their mind. All I'm thinking about is how to try and be mosre comfortable on the plane and how to protect my seating companions from my germs.

Another person warned me that my ears will hurt, particularly when the plane is coming in to land. Now you may say that if you are warned about something you can take steps to deal with it. I say thanks a bunch for putting this negative expectation into my mind! Let's face it, I cannot change the way in which a plane flies or how the human body responds on an airplane. If my ears get sore, it won't kill me, and the pain won't last for long. Although a positive attitude is unlikely to change this natural physical reaction, it may allow me to notice the pain less. And I will definitely avoid putting myself through twelve hours of anticipatory anxiety beforehand.

What you expect to happen tends to happen. Whatever you imagine you create. This is how your mind works. So if you get a cold, it is far more helpful to think of it as a common cold, and not jump to the conclusion that you are suffering from the flu or any other types of more uncomfortable ailments. If I was to allow myself to go down the negative thinking route, I might by now be lying in bed, focusing on how dreadful I feel and suffering from panic attacks about my flight later today.

Instead of this I have armed myself with a splendid array of medicinal supplements, a box of tissues which are super soft and covered in balsam, a mask, a good book, my iPod and headphones with a lot of hypnotic mp3 recordings to help me to relax, release positive endorphins, reduce my perception of pain and to sleep well. Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis mp3 downloads to make you feel better.