What motivates people to adopt and adhere to healthy lifestyles is often unique to the individual and can be a tangled knot of different issues to unravel. We see that many times newly adopted lifestyle changes get de-railed by life’s challenges and stressful events.
Resilience is the capacity of people to bounce back from the disruption of stress and catastrophe that occurs in life. There are many factors associated with resilience such as taking care of one’s mind and body, exercising regularly and keeping social ties. However, another component that is often undervalued is that of positive expectations and visualization of what is wished. Positive and hopeful thoughts serve to drive the emotions and motivate people.
Those in the field of Positive Psychology view hope as a learned style of goal-directed thinking. It is the belief that one can: 1. find pathways to desired goals; and, 2 become motivated to use those pathways. Pathways Thinking is when people perceive they are capable of generating workable routes to desired goals. Agency Thinking is the motivational component. It is the self-referential thoughts about one’s capacity to succeed and to follow through. This is associated with internal messages of self-efficacy or “can do” thinking.
Self efficacy, that “can do” spirit, is integrally involved in this process of hopeful thinking. When supporting people during the challenge of adopting a lifestyle change or in maintaining it, it is essential to draw upon their personal experiences and successes in other areas of life to guide them to positive pathways. We have all seen the momentum that can occur when someone succeeds in one area and translates it to another.
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