Having a positive outlook in life is something that can help people get through almost every situation. Negativity does tend to breed even more negativity, and the same is true of positivity. If you can be as positive as possible at all times, you will find that life becomes easier. You’ll still have the same challenges to face, but your positive attitude and feelings will make everything so much better. Being positive no matter what isn’t always easy, so here are some ways that will help you try.
Look On The Bright Side
You will have heard the expression “look on the bright side” before, but perhaps you haven’t truly thought about it. Looking on the bright side means seeing the positive in even the most negative of situations. Whenever you are in a negative situation, take a step back and look for at least one positive that you can take from it. Maybe you have made a mistake at work, and the positive is that you will never make the same mistake again. Maybe you were creating some art and spilled paint all over your creation; the positive is that it could have made it look more interesting. Maybe you’re trying to give up smoking and finding the whole process difficult.
Looking for opportunities within any given situation can turn it from a negative to a positive, and when you do that, everything changes for the better.
Live In A Positive Environment
Think of all the information you are bombarded with throughout the day from the TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, and of course, social media. How much of it is positive, and how much is negative? It’s likely that most of the information will be negative, and that will affect your outlook for the day ahead. Although it’s important to stay up to date with world events, if they or any other news and communication channels are bringing you down and making your life less pleasant, then stop using them.
The same is true for the people around you. Are there negative people within your social circles as well as positive ones? These negative people are ones you need to spend less time with, and you need to make an effort to break away.
Take Things Slowly
If you want to be more positive in life, try to slow down whenever you do something and really savor the moment. Eating good food, talking with friends, enjoying some exercise, carrying out any fun activity (or any less fun but essential activity such as laundry or grocery shopping) can all become more positive when you take the time to think about them more carefully. When you slow down in life, you will feel less stressed; you will be calmer and more able to process what is happening around you in a good way.
It is also a good way to combat stress. Stress can easily build up within you, and if you don’t slow down, you will never be able to get rid of it properly. When you do slow down, your entire body and brain can relax at least a little, and that helps to show you the positive in a situation, as well as releasing the built up stress, so everything is better and less negative.
Don’t Lose Perspective
It is so easy in life to lose perspective of things and feel that a situation is much worse than it truly is. This is especially true if you aren?t able or willing to slow down, and if you are extremely stressed. If you find that you are making more of a situation that it really calls for, there are some useful techniques to bear in mind. Start by telling yourself to stop. It sounds simplistic, but it works! Shout stop inside your head, and this will be the thought that takes your focus. You’ll be more easily able to step away from the situation and re-assess things.
Another technique to try is to focus on your breathing. Just sit and be entirely still and focus on your breaths as they go in and out. Take a minute or two of this, breathing deeply and purposefully, and you will feel a lot better and a lot calmer.
Finally, take a moment to refocus yourself. Look again at the situation you are facing, and even talk to someone about it as a new perspective can really help you to see what you might be missing. One question that can be of use when it comes to re-focusing is to ask whether whatever it is that is bothering you will matter in three years time? If it won’t, then it’s not worth spending energy on now.
Don’t Be Afraid
Being afraid of moving forward or trying something new can reduce your positivity. If you have a real fear, something that you can explain and understand (even if it might seem irrational), then this would make sense, but it also means that you can do something about it, starting by looking at the positive side, as mentioned above, and working through the reasons why your feelings are negative.
It is the vaguer feelings of fear that are more difficult to deal with. You know that you are worried about taking action in some way, but you can’t quite articulate why. When this is the case, your imagination takes over and makes the situation a lot worse than it really ever would be, imagining all kinds of scenarios that make you even more afraid and less likely to act.
Ask yourself what the worst that could happen is. You’ll realize that it will never be as bad as what you have been imagining, and this will add a positive spin to your life.
Be Someone Else’s Positivity
When you bring positivity into someone else’s life, you will bring it into yours as well, without even meaning to. Therefore, help people as much as you can, be there for people, be the positive in a world of negatives, and you will soon be able to look on the bright side as often as possible.
