The Power of Positive Thinking
- 14 hours ago
- 4 min read
In a semester of deadlines and demands, simple rituals of self-compassion can help students feel grounded and grateful.
Written by Nicole Wloszek-Therens
“I’m beautiful. I’m worthy. I’m loved. I’m cared about.”
Kaylonna Robinson starts each day out by repeating these affirmations in her bathroom mirror, glancing at a handwritten list on the glass. The morning mantras are strategically placed so she never forgets her self-pep talk before heading out for her sport entertainment management classes at Cleveland State University.
It’s a simple ritual, but one with intention. The moment of reflection sets the tone for Robinson’s day, reminding her of her strengths before she’s pulled into her responsibilities.
“I feel like, as humans, we can get very engulfed in our mood or engulfed in a certain feeling,” Robinson said. “Seeing those affirmations, saying them to yourself and hearing them, all of that working together, it brings you back.”
Whether it’s the start of her day or the middle of a particularly bad one, this routine helps her remember that even the worst moments don’t last forever. As a CSU senior, she understands firsthand the stress that students deal with – from overdue homework to parking citations shoved under windshield wipers.
“I feel like as college students, we face a lot of adversity daily,” Robinson said. “College is the one place where you can wake up, go to class, forget you had an assignment due. Then you go outside, and there’s a parking ticket on your car.”
Despite the chaos of student life, Robinson said she thinks that positive self-talk can help carry students to the ultimate goal of graduation.
“It’s important for people in college because the goal is to finish,” she said. “You don’t want to get so engulfed in feeling a certain way that you don’t see it through.”
Her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho, made an effort to introduce the wider CSU community to the power of positive thinking through an event where students created their own affirmation jars.
These jars house small pieces of paper with handwritten mantras and manifestations waiting to be called upon for a moment of encouragement.
“We’re bringing positivity back into living in such a tough time and being in college,” Robinson, president of Sigma Gamma Rho, said. “Especially towards the end of the semester, things are getting hard for students. It’s a way to do something cute.”
It’s more than just a wholesome activity. According to Cleveland State University associate psychology lecturer Olivia Pethtel, practicing positive thinking can offer real mental and physical benefits. She said research on a concept called “self-compassion” suggests that showing empathy to oneself can result in a tangible improvement in well-being, especially later in life.
“Like how you can be compassionate to other people – you understand the struggle of being human – you can kind of give that to yourself,” Pethtel said about practicing self-compassion.
This glass-half-full outlook can lessen the blows life bestows while also giving opportunities for improvement. She said that people who are more optimistic are likely to see issues as temporary and situational, so a forgotten assignment or spilled coffee isn’t viewed as a failure, but a survivable setback. A positive perspective makes it easier to believe that a better outcome is right around the corner.
“If you have the optimistic attitude, you’re more likely to try again,” Pethtel said. “And if you try again, you’re going to improve.”
Self-compassion can also help to manage stress, which is more than just an emotion – it’s a physiological process that happens like a chain reaction inside the body. She explained that a stress response involves a release of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone that acts as a built-in alarm system, an increased heart rate and a weakened immune system.
All of this can help to explain why stress can weigh so heavily on students, especially at a particularly vulnerable point in life.
“I think this is the point in life that can be very anxiety provoking,” Pethtel said. “Give yourself that grace to mess up, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.”
Cultivating a positive mindset doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. An accessible first step is simply practicing gratitude. All it takes is a pencil, some paper and a little bit of morning motivation.
“If you wake up every morning and write down three things you’re thankful for and you practice that every day, you’re more likely to think in that positive mindset,” Pethtel said. “So if you’re having a bad day or something, just think, ‘What am I grateful, what am I thankful for?’”
What starts as a few handwritten words or slips of paper in a glass jar can become something larger. Like Robinson’s affirmation routine, it can become a habit of giving grace, of feeling grateful and choosing to be kind to the person who’s always by your side – yourself.
Every day we’re surrounded by so many voices – listen to the one that tells you you’re enough.
