Accra, June 15, GNA – Two People went blind around the same time, one was a teacher by profession, and the other worked in a Mining company.
They both sought help on how to navigate life after blindness, the teacher was quick to accept his “fate” he was soon learning how to use the braille, in addition to that he got access to the use of appropriate assistive technology and was even able to further his education to the law school.
Four years down the line, he qualified as a blind lawyer in Ghana, the other was a bit hesitant in accepting his “fate” he was at every crusade, praying to get his sight back.
Four years after his blindness, his company could no longer tolerate him, he had become a very bitter person. He believed that what happened to him was as a result of black magic, he was grumpy but guess what, his quality of life had also deteriorated.
Some psychologists will say that what differentiates the two people described in the above scenario is mindset.
Mindset can be defined as an “established set of attitudes” that determines how a person reacts towards a situation.
Psychologists have identified different kinds of mindset, for the purposes of this article the writer will focus on two main ones, the growth mindset and the fixed mindset, others call it the negative mindset or the positive mindset.
People with positive thinking are generally empowered to act and achieve their goals. On the contrary, negative thinking can paralyse us, bringing fears and doubts and preventing us from taking the actions that can get us closer to our goals.
In Ghana, it seems that a lot of people are inclined towards negativity, this is evident in our conversations, and it shows a lot in our attitude.
For example, it is common to hear people say of someone who has made some wealth, that oh the source of his wealth is from “Juju”.
If someone seems to be doing well in life, the conversations are always like: “Oh he/she should be careful, as for life it can always take a negative twist.
Usually, the negative floats around a lot while the positive is shelved.
Adwoa Akyea (Not the real name) shared an experience, she said she was given a position which goes with a task at her workplace, somehow, some of her colleagues who got to talk to her about her position seems to say “Be Careful”
“The position was a sensitive one and any mistake could be embarrassing but I was focused on the positive, while I thought that I would do an excellent job and make an impact, a lot of people around me seemed to be saying, “What if something goes wrong.”
Adwoa said, I expected my colleagues to rather think what if everything went right and we all win, since failure on my part will also affect them.
Adwoa sharing an observation, said it seems a lot of people are inclined towards negativity, it is as if they want something bad or negative to happen so they could be happy and feel ‘powerful’ that does not help with development.
If we are to develop as a people, it should start from developing our minds to be more positive oriented rather than negative.
Reverend Albright Banibensu, Vice President of the Ghana Psychological Association, also shared an experience with regards to having a positive mindset, he said the recent Accra floods destroyed many bundles of my published books that have not even been opened.
My Mindsets could be: “I’m done. All my investment is gone. Why me?” which goes along with emotions like anger, frustration, disappointment and hopelessness or I could say only the books are destroyed.
No life is lost. Even the books are due for revision…my readers deserve better. I’ll start the revised version as soon as possible! Which goes along with emotions like Peace of mind, revitalized energy to start a new project, Joy (not happiness).
Rev. Banibensu continued: What’s the reality? Books destroyed. What makes the difference? Mindset. He encouraged Ghanaians to develop positive mindset instead of negative, saying, it’s not necessarily that there’s a positive thing in the negative occurrence itself (books destroyed) but the mindset is how one rethinks the issue.
He, however, pointed out that some people are genetically programmed to be more negative than others, apart from the social and psychological factors.
Rev. Banibenu explained that some people tend to be extremely careful in order not to make mistakes, but the truth is while being extremely careful and thus making less mistakes, they also mistake opportunities for risks. They generally achieve less in life but are good gatekeepers for the less negative people.
He said: “We need both positive and negative thinkers in the boat, but the boat begins to sink when we allow them to let us look at the waves and not set our sails against the wind.”
Ms Marie Holive, an Executive Life Coach in the USA, said I believe positive thinking can be learned and it is like a muscle we need to regularly exercise!
GNA