Have you heard the song Accentuate the Positive? 

It's by Bing Crosby, and written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer.

It’s an old song, but the words are brilliant:

You got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don’t mess with Mr In-between.

When negative things happen how good are you at letting go? It’s an odd thing that for many of us we remember the negative things and it is those that we talk about no matter how small they might be. If they accumulate through the day they can fill our mind and can really affect how we feel, think and behave. It can affect posture, breathing, and our overall wellbeing. 

In a past life — before I became a fitness coach — I worked in the NHS. I ran training courses for staff on a variety of issues, recruitment, interviewing skills, health and safety, supervisory skills, and many more. Often staff would have been sent to these courses and often there would be someone in the room who didn’t want to be there — body language, facial expressions, posture everything telling me they weren’t happy to be there and felt that what I had to say wasn’t important. 

Now, did I remember and talk about the 19 other people who enjoyed the course and were enthusiastic and gave good feedback? OR did I remember the one person sitting at the back with arms folded, not making eye contact, rolling eyes? You’ve got the picture. 

Once this has happened, unless you can let go of the negativity, the next time you run the course you are wondering, anticipating even, that this will be repeated. And gradually, this affects the feelings we have around the event: it affects our behaviour, we don’t go in with as much enthusiasm, less confident… 

So how can we let go of the negativity, and ‘accentuate the positive’? Well in my Pilates and Your Whole Self course I talk about journaling, to include gratitude, but also to make a note of the small wins throughout the day. When something good happens, and it doesn’t matter how small, by making a note of it we are consciously emphasizing positivity and this can help to change the perspective.

If we do this regularly and actively it can really help to let go of the negativity that can swamp our headspace if we let it, change the focus, ‘eliminate the negative’ and instead of reporting back the negative of the day, amplify the positive.

And as I write this Newsletter, the sun is coming out, the blue-tits are in the bird box and already have a family as they are busy back and forth, and I have changed the bedding… What's not to be positive about?

Have a positive-filled week — keep moving, keep looking, and keep feeling good.

With love

Jane xx