I wrote the following article almost 6 years ago to the day, after the passing of one of my idols, Anthony Bourdain. Seemingly, more relevant than ever, here's a reminder to spread positivity wherever you can.

 - Jamie O'Keeffe

Image tweeted by @bourdain

Several years ago, I was very fortunate to be at a conference in the US which had renown brain disorder specialist Dr Daniel Amen as a guest speaker. Dr Amen is the Director of the Amen Clinics as well as being a New York Times best selling author of 'Change your Brain, Change Your Life'. Dr Amen was a fascinating presenter with his insights on how our brain is wired (and can be rewired). He also spoke of how 'Automatic Negative Thoughts' or ANTS as he put it, are in our brain to protect but sometimes can have a greater, and possibly negative, impact on our well being. I found this very interesting as it does highlight the fact that we do have voices in our heads to both encourage and 'protect'. He finished off his speech with a quote that I love "Don't believe everything you hear. Even in your own head"

We all have these voices and the problem is those that then use their own negative thoughts on others to protect their own situation can severely impact on the well being of others. We do not wear signs indicating which voice in our head is currently winning so we will never understand the power of someones elses words 'good' or 'bad'. So with this in mind, we need to purely use 'positivity' to influence those around us. Think about the times when someone has spoken positive about you or showed you the value in yourself that you may not have seen. Its infectious!

We can't afford to lose great people and we are ALL great people so as my Mum would say 'If you have nothing nice to say......"

And for you Mr Bourdain, everytime I'm at an Italian Restaurant eating Cacio e Pepe or holidaying in Bali and lunching on Babi Guling I will be thinking of you and saying thank you for your positive influence on my life.