How To Be Positive

Most of us probably associate the word "positive" with being "happy." Happiness isn't the only kind of positivity, though. Even in the face of difficulties, grief, or rage, there are lots of ways to live a happier life. Studies indicate that humans possess the ability to select positive feelings consciously and through organized thought patterns. On a cellular level, our emotions alter our bodies.

Our perceptions of and reactions to our environment shape a great deal of our life experiences. Thankfully, we have the option to interpret and react to unpleasant emotions differently rather than suppressing or attempting to "get rid of" them. You'll discover that you can become more optimistic with a little effort, tolerance, and persistence.

Here is how to stay positive ;

1. Recognize And Accept Your Current Situation

If you are unable to recognize the issue, you will never be able to alter your thought process. You can start the process of changing by acknowledging that you have unfavorable thoughts and feelings and that you don't like the way you're currently handling them.

• Try not to be critical of your thoughts or emotions towards yourself. Never forget that thoughts and feelings are simply that-thoughts and feelings-and that they are neither intrinsically "good" nor "bad." You are in charge of how you see things and react to them.
• Additionally, accept the aspects of yourself that are unchangeable. For instance, attempting to be an extrovert all the time will probably make you feel exhausted and unhappy if you're an introverted person who needs quiet time alone to "recharge." Embrace who you are at this moment, exactly as you are. After that, you are free to grow into the most optimistic version of yourself!

2. Set Objectives

Setting goals improves our attitude toward life. Studies have indicated that establishing a reasonable objective can enhance your self-efficacy and confidence instantly, even if you don't meet it straight away.

• You can achieve your goals and advance in your life by setting objectives that are personally meaningful to you and consistent with your beliefs.
• Set modest initial goals for yourself. Avoid aiming straight for the moon. The race is won by perseverance. Set precise objectives. The objective to "be more positive" is fantastic, but it's so big that you probably won't know where to begin. Rather, make more manageable objectives, such as "Smile at a stranger once a day" or "Meditate twice a week."
• State your objectives in a positive light. According to research, if you formulate your goals positively, you have a higher chance of succeeding. Put another way, make your goals something you strive for rather than something you try to avoid. As an illustration: "Stop eating junk food" is a useless objective. It might make you feel guilty or ashamed. The advice to "eat three servings of fruit and vegetables each day" is clear and encouraging.
• Maintain your focus and base your goals on your deeds. Recall that you have no power over other people. If you make goals that depend on other people's actions, you might become depressed if things don't work out the way you had hoped. Instead, make your goals based on your performance, which is something you have control over.

3. Spend Time Meditating With Compassion

This kind of meditation has its origins in Buddhist traditions and is also referred to as "compassion meditation" or metta bhavana. It teaches you to love everyone in the world with the same enthusiasm you already have for your closest relatives. It has also been demonstrated to enhance interpersonal relationships and resilience, or the capacity to recover from adversity, in a matter of weeks. Positive results can be observed in as little as five minutes each day.

• Compassion meditation courses are available everywhere. Online guided MP3 meditations are another option. There are free downloadable loving-kindness meditations available from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Centre and the Centre for Contemplative Mind in Society.
• Practicing loving-kindness meditation is beneficial to mental well-being as well. Research has indicated that practicing compassion meditation can lessen depressive symptoms, which implies that developing compassion for others can also help you develop compassion for yourself.

4. Maintain a Journal

According to recent research, there may be a mathematical formula for happiness: three happy feelings for every unhappy one appear to maintain a balanced state of mind. You can see all of the emotional events in your day and identify areas where your ratio needs to be adjusted by keeping a journal. To increase your likelihood of remembering your pleasant experiences in the future, it can also assist you in concentrating on them.

• Maintaining a journal ought to involve more than just listing your dislikes. According to research, writing in your journal exclusively about the bad feelings and experiences you had will only serve to reinforce them and make you feel worse.
• Rather, express your feelings in writing without labeling them as good or bad. An instance of a bad experience could be something like this: "My coworker made a joke about my weight today, and I felt hurt."
• Next, consider your answer. What was your immediate response? Putting some distance between you and me, how would you respond right now? For instance: "At the time, I felt so worthless and terrible about myself. Looking back, I see that my colleague speaks insensitively to everyone. My value cannot be determined by someone else. I'm the only one who can accomplish that.
• Try to consider the lessons you can learn from these experiences. How can you use this for personal development? What will you do differently the next time? For example: "Next time someone says something hurtful, I will remember that their judgments do not define me. I will also tell my coworker that his comments are insensitive and hurt my feelings so that I remember my feelings are important."
• Remember to write down the good things in your journal as well. Even a brief note of a stranger's kindness, a stunning sunset, or a stimulating conversation with a friend can help you "store" these memories for later reference. If you pay attention to them, they'll probably stay in your mind.

5. Engage In Active Gratitude

Being grateful is a behavior rather than just an emotion. Numerous studies have demonstrated the health benefits of gratitude. Your perspective is almost instantly altered, and the benefits increase with continued practice. Having gratitude makes you feel happier and better about yourself, improves the relationships you have with others, and fosters compassion.

• Certain individuals have a higher level of "trait gratitude," or the innate capacity for gratitude. Nevertheless, regardless of your innate level of "trait gratitude," you can cultivate an "attitude of gratitude"!
• Never approach people in relationships or situations as though you "deserve" something from them. This does not imply that you think you are undeserving of anything or that you tolerate abuse or disrespect. It meansthat you ought to approach situations without thinking that you have a right or advantage to a particular outcome.
• Express your appreciation to others. You can "set" your feelings of gratitude in your memory by sharing them with other people. Positive emotions can also be evoked in those you share them with. Find a friend who can serve as your "gratitude partner" and make it a daily ritual to share three things each other is thankful for.
• Try to acknowledge every small act of kindness that occurs during the day. Take note of these things, such as the perfect turnout of your blueberry pancakes, the manageable traffic to work, or the compliments your friend gave you on your attire! They soon mount up.
• Cherish these wonderful things. People have a terrible habit of concentrating on the bad things and ignoring the good things. Please pause to mindfully acknowledge the good things in your life as you recognize them. Attempt to "store them" in your mind. For instance, take a moment to stop and tell yourself, "This is a beautiful moment, and I want to remember how grateful I feel for it," if you happen to pass by a lovely flower garden on your daily walk. Make an effort to mentally "snapshot" the situation. By doing this, you can recall these things at a later time, perhaps during a trying or unpleasant experience.

6. Employ Positive Self-Talk

Although self-affirmations might come across as corny, research indicates that they are effective on a fundamental level, even creating new "positive thought" neural clusters. Keep in mind that your brain prefers to take shortcuts, and it will take the most commonly used pathways. Your brain will begin to perceive self-compassion as the "norm" if you consistently speak to yourself with compassion. Self-affirmations and positive self-talk can also strengthen your immune system, improve your coping mechanisms, and lessen stress and depression.

• Select affirmations that hold personal significance for you. Affirmations that express compassion for your body, your self-perception, or a reminder of your spiritual practices can all be used. Do whatever it is that brings you calm and self-assurance!
• You could say something like, "Today I will try my best to be kind," "My body is healthy, and my mind is beautiful," or "Today my deity/spiritual figure is with me as I go through the day."
• Consider deliberately concentrating on finding encouraging affirmations in your challenging area. Try affirmations like "I am beautiful and strong," "I can learn to love myself as I love others," or "I am worthy of love and respect," for instance if you struggle with your body image.

7. Develop Optimism

In the 1970s, researchers found that lottery winners, an event that most of us likely associate with great happiness, were no happier a year later than those who had not. Hedonic adaptation explains this: following positive or negative experiences outside of ourselves, people tend to return to their "baseline" level of happiness. You can intentionally practice optimism, even if your natural baseline is somewhat pessimistic. Your relationships with others, a general sense of well-being, and self-esteem all improve when you are optimistic.

• Optimism is a perspective on the world. The flexibility of the human brain allows you to acquire multiple interpretation techniques! Pessimistic viewpoints internalize the world in unchangeable terms, such as "everything is unfair," "I can't change this," or "My life is horrible, and I'm to blame." An optimistic perspective sees the world in narrow, flexible terms.
• For instance, someone with a pessimistic mindset might think, "I already suck at the cello," when they see your upcoming big cello recital. I will still completely fail at the recital. I could just as easily play Nintendo. This statement makes the supposition that your cello abilities are natural and unchangeable rather than something you can improve with practice. Additionally, it implies that you are a bad player and that you should practice more rather than having a personal shortcoming by saying, "I suck at the cello." This negative mindset could indicate that you don't practice the cello because you think it's useless or that you're ashamed of your "bad" performance. Both could be more effective.
• A positive mindset would tackle this situation by saying something like, "I'm not happy with where I'm at right now, and I have a big cello recital next week." Up until the recital, I plan to practice for an additional hour each day. After that, I'll try my hardest. All I can do is that, and at least then, I will know that I did everything in my power to succeed. Optimism does not negate the existence of difficulties or bad experiences. It decides to read them distinctly.
• The difference between "blind" optimism and genuine optimism is significant. Those with naive optimism might anticipate that you will learn to play the cello and be accepted into the Juilliard School. This isn't practical, and having such high expectations can lead to disappointment. Genuine optimism recognizes the truth of your circumstances and enables you to get ready to deal with them. A genuinely positive outlook, on the other hand, anticipates that you will have to put in a lot of effort for a number of years, and even then, you might not get into your ideal university. Still, at least you will have tried your hardest to reach your objective.

8. Reframe Unpleasant Experiences

People often make the error of trying to ignore or avoid unpleasant experiences. On some level, this makes sense because they hurt. But attempting to suppress or deny these experiences actually makes it harder for you to deal with them. Rather, think of a different way to interpret these experiences. Is there anything you can learn from them? Can you see them differently?

• Take inventor Myshkin Ingawale, for instance. Ingawale described in a 2012 TED Talk how he created technology in rural India to save the lives of expectant mothers. His invention failed the first thirty-two times he attempted to create it. He had the chance to view his experience as a failure and give up on it repeatedly. However, he decided to use these experiences to learn from past mistakes, and as a result, his invention has helped to 50% lower the death rate of pregnant women in rural India.
• Another illustration would be Dr. Viktor Frankl, who spent the Holocaust as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Dr. Frankl wrote, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way," despite the fact that he was confronted with the worst of humanity.
• Take a step back and assess the situation rather than allowing yourself to react negatively to a challenge or unpleasant experience right away. What specifically went wrong? In reality, what is at risk? What can you take away from this to try something new the next time? Has this experience made you stronger, wiser, kinder, or more giving? You can reframe the experience by pausing to think about it, as opposed to immediately viewing it negatively.

9. Make Use Of Your Body

Your mind and body are closely related to one another. Your body might be acting against you if you're having trouble feeling upbeat. According to research by social psychologist Amy Cuddy, your posture can even have an impact on your body's stress hormone levels. Attempt to stand erect. Keep your chest forward and your shoulders back. Keep your eyes fixed forward. Occupy a space. This is referred to as a "power pose," and it can genuinely give you a more assured and upbeat feeling.

• According to research, smiling makes you feel happier whether or not you "feel" happy. This is especially true when you smile with a Duchenne smile, which contracts the muscles in your mouth and around your eyes. Even during excruciating medical procedures, those who smiled reported feeling less pain than those who didn't.
• Wear clothing that conveys your individuality. Your mood is influenced by what you wear. A single lab coat made all the difference in performance between those wearing and those without during a straightforward scientific task, according to one study! Regardless of what others may think of you, wear the clothes that make you feel good about yourself. Additionally, keep your size the same because clothing sizes are entirely arbitrary, and a store's size 4 may be a store's size 12. Recall that a random number does not determine your value!

10.Get Moving

Exercise causes your body to release endorphins, which are naturally occurring chemicals that make you feel good. Depression and anxiety can be fought with exercise. Additionally, studies have demonstrated that engaging in regular, moderate exercise improves your mood and sense of well-being.

• Every day, try to get in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise.
• It's also okay not to be a bodybuilder to reap the benefits of exercise. Even mild physical activities such as swimming, gardening, or jogging can improve your general mood.
• Meditation-based exercises like yoga and tai chi can also improve your general health and make you feel happier.

11. Inject Vitality Into Yourself

Consider all the ways you have already succeeded in order to achieve more success. Concentrate on the abundance of love you have to give to others and all the people who already care about you if you want more love. Consider all the aspects of your health that you already have, and so on, if you want to cultivate better health.

12. Forget About The Little Things

Everybody in life encounters issues that, when viewed from a distance and with the right perspective, don't actually seem like a big deal. According to research, material possessions that might be bringing you down won't truly make you happy. As a matter of fact, attaching yourself to objects is frequently an attempt to compensate for unfulfilled needs. According to research, in order to thrive in life, we require the following five necessities:

• Feelings of optimism
• Engagement: the state of being deeply absorbed or carried away by something
• Connections with other people
• Significance of Achievement
• Remember that you are the one who can define these terms for yourself! Don't focus too much on what other people consider to be an "accomplishment" or "meaning." You won't feel good about yourself if your actions and behavior don't have any personal significance for you. Money, fame, or material possessions won't truly bring you happiness.

13. Steer Clear Of Bad Influences

People are very prone to "emotional contagion," which is the idea that the emotions of those around us affect our own. Avoid negative and bad behavior to prevent it from affecting you.

• Make intelligent friend selections. Our outlooks can be greatly influenced by the friends we choose to surround ourselves with, both positively and negatively. If your friends are constantly complaining, explain to them how you stay positive. Please help them discover positive coping mechanisms as well. You might have to cut ties with them if they're still determined to be negative for your benefit.
• Only take actions that you find comfortable. If something doesn't feel right, you'll probably feel horrible or guilty about doing it. That is not a satisfying experience.
• Saying "no" to things that you don't want to do can make you feel more confident and stronger. This holds both at work and with friends and family.

14. Address Traumatic Experiences From The Past

You might need to address some underlying issues if you find yourself feeling down, angry, or unhappy all the time. When coping with traumas like abuse in the past, stress exposure, natural disasters, grief, and loss, get professional assistance.

• If you can find one, seek out a licensed mental health practitioner with a focus on treating trauma. It may be challenging, even painful, to work through your traumas with a counselor or therapist, but in the end, you will come out stronger and more optimistic.

15. Reject Your Fear Of Failing

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." We are prone to mistakes and setbacks. The important thing is how we get back up again. Our best chance of remaining optimistic during the process is if we have high expectations but are confident in failing.

In your quest for happiness, remember to be grateful for the little things in life because they can brighten even the darkest days. Develop an outlook that views obstacles as chances for personal development and failures as teaching moments for resiliency. Make meaningful connections with people around you to uplift and nourish your soul. Recall that positivity is a journey rather than just a destination-a daily decision to look for light amid shadows. Have faith in your capacity to overcome, and use optimism as the compass to direct your actions in the direction of a better tomorrow.