Page 27 - INTRA MUROS November 2020

TODAY’S CHILD

scare you to death. Your confidence will
naturally grow. Insecurities will begin to
melt away. You will believe in yourself and
those goals you make for every day.
Positive thinking boosts performance
and helps you feel more in control. While
negative thinking leaves you feeling
emotions including fear, frustration, anger up after a week. Keep working hard to helpless and overwhelmed, positive
and helplessness. Focusing our energy on change your thought pattern and train thinking leaves you feeling confident,
the task at hand becomes impossible and yourself not to worry about what is excited, happy and fulfilled. It also
steals productivity from the situation. outside of your control. encourages your mind and body to
• Take a deep breath when you feel perform at their peak intensity while being
Change your mindset yourself responding to negativity, relaxed and excited about the task at hand.
Here is the good news: if you are reading coming from yourself or your
this and realise your studying and exams classmates. Anxiety and stress can Not to say that positive learners do not
might be dominated by a negative inhibit deep breathing; therefore, have bad exams from time to time...
attitude, you can make tangible steps by focusing on your breathing, your everyone does. But you will not see them
towards a positive mindset. airways will open up. Breathing deeply collapsing or bursting into tears in the
will help your body relax, feel better and corner. Positive thinkers talk it over with
• Ask yourself the following questions feel more in control. Deep breaths also a parent or teacher, analyse aspects to
when you begin to beat yourself up provide the body and brain with a flood be improved upon, and move on. Your
about a poor day’s studying, lack of of oxygen that enhances performance. response to those bad exams or tests
concentration or a bad exam: These changes will naturally increase determines how fast you will bounce
Am I being fair on myself right now? your confidence and enable you to back and achieve the next time. A couple
Am I blowing this out of proportion? perform well. of not-so-great results do not mean that
Am I helping or hurting myself by • Smile. When you feel stress and do not your efforts at positive thinking are not
thinking this way? know whether you can take anymore, working. They merely take time to develop
• Psychology literature tells us to reframe smile. Even if you do not feel as and really take root.
these thoughts and visualise a better though you can, do it. Smiling releases
outcome when faced with doubt and endorphins which cause your body to A positive mindset will help you to be
fear. Instead of feeding into and voicing relax and feel happy. calm and confident when it matters most.
negative thoughts by complaining, you • Apply all of your focus onto your exam. How you respond to tough things will
learn how to control your reactions by You have been preparing for this determine your success as a learner at
finding a more constructive way of moment and know what to do. Focus school.
interpreting your situation. Reframing on yourself and no one else. Ignore
causes you to shift your focus from sights and sounds around you and put
factors that you cannot control to those your next foot forward. Performance
you can. is oftentimes marginally attributed
• Visualisation is a powerful tool with to preparation and largely more
cognitive reframing. Visualisation and determined by mental strength.
positive self-talk are a form of relaxation. • Allow room for improvement. Instead
When you picture yourself being of beating yourself up after a poor • Marital, Couples & Family
successful and reaching your goals, your performance, think of at least one Therapy
body responds to that. So next time way you know you can improve (like • Counselling Children,
you feel the self-doubt rising, picture reading the exam paper through once Adolescents & Adults
yourself achieving what you have set before starting) and put that aspect into • “Teen” Challenges
out to do. practice. For example, in each and every • Behavioural & Adjustment
• Make a goal. By concentrating on your class assessment, practice the skills Challenges
end goal instead of thinking of how of slowly reading through the paper • Stress-Related Challenges
tired you are or how well everyone else before commencing with answering any • Adjustment to Depression &
is doing, ask yourself: “What result do I questions. Each exam is an opportunity Anxiety
want?” or “What do I want my maths to learn something. Develop a plan of • Subject & Career Counselling
marks to be?” By concentrating on action and move forward. Do not give • Psychometric Testing
what you want, you are taking concrete up if the plan does not work the first
steps toward controlling the outcome. time. Refine it, move forward and keep For an appointment please call
Remember to make short- and long- trying. 083 376 1995
term goals. If you are struggling with
maths, make a short-term goal for this Positive mindset Fees are charged according to Scale of
exam that reflects an achievable, long- When you are positive throughout your Benefits
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• Believe in yourself. You can achieve this. yourself a huge advantage. Positivity Practice Address: 27 Fish Eagle Street,
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• Persistence is vital. If you know that you pressure events in your life, such as a ballet Reg. No.: PS 0080543
need to make a change, do not give performance or first date... that used to

INTRA MUROS NOVEMBER 2020 25