Most of us could do with learning how to be more positive. A life with a half full glass is more enjoyable! Learn how to be positive with these tips.
There’s no denying that life can be difficult sometimes. Hard times are made even harder with an attitude that borders on Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, rather than Tigger. But, we can all learn how to be more positive, you simply need to start implementing new practices into your life that help you to reframe your mindset.
While learning how to be positive isn’t going to happen overnight, you will notice small changes pretty quickly.
Knowing how to see the bright side of any given situation will help you avoid getting into any negative slumps. You’ll face a difficult situation and be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s not exactly as easy as just deciding to be more positive.
[Read: How to hone and increase your positive emotions in a negative world]
How a negative mindset can destroy your life
If you look at successful people, what do you usually see? Typically, they’re friendly and able to keep their mood light throughout the day. You don’t see too many successful people complaining about how crappy their lives are.
Even if they are going through a rough patch, they’re not going to be bitching about it. Why? Because they know how detrimental a negative mindset can be to their life.
Not only can a negative mindset be harmful to your career, it’ll also impact the rest of your life in horrible ways. Your relationships won’t be as healthy and you just won’t enjoy your life as much as you should.
Put simply, isn’t life too short to be miserable? [Read: How to stop being sad – 15 steps to alter your sad state of mind]
How to be more positive and have a much better life
The great thing is that you can change your life around even if you’re a primarily negative person by default. And yes, being pessimistic or optimistic is something that your brain is automatically wired to be. You can blame cave people for this.
Basically, back in the days when there were threats to survival around every single corner, a negative mindset helped to identify dangerous situations and take action. But, these days, we don’t have half as many threatening situations to face every second of the day. The problem? The human brain hasn’t really caught up with that fact yet.
Luckily, you can change all of that over time. Here’s how to be more positive and give yourself a better, happier life. [Read: Positive vibes – 17 ways to welcome positive energy into your life]
1. Start your day with positive thoughts
You won’t wake up on the right side of the bed every day. You’ll probably have some mornings where you just want to hide away from the world. But instead of wallowing in your angst, think positively.
Focus on getting up every day and telling yourself a few positive things about yourself and your life. Listing those things off every morning can help your brain get into the habit of waking up in a good mood. [Read: Is negative thinking ruining your life? 20 signs and tips to cope with it ]
2. Step away from negative situations
There will always be bad stuff going on in your life from time to time. The best thing you can do to get away from that is to just walk away.
When something is upsetting you or someone is making you angry, remove yourself from that situation or person and calm down. Put your positive thinking cap on and get back to your happy place.
3. Get rid of negative people in your life *if you can*
Negative people are like leeches. They don’t have any positivity for themselves so they basically have to steal all of yours, leaving you nothing but negativity. Get rid of them. We know it might be hard but in order to better your life and become more positive, the people weighing you down need to go.
If you can’t actually step away from them, at least set boundaries and spend less time with them. Your happiness is important – always remember that. [Read: How to deal with negative people and stop them from sapping your energy]
4. Surround yourself with positive people
Just as negative people can make you feel worse, positive people will only add to your positivity. They’ll make you feel better.
It pays to surround yourself with people who always seem to be in a good mood. That mood will be certain to rub off on you and you’ll be more positive because of it.
5. Reframe negative thoughts when they crop up and you’ll learn how to be more positive
This might take some getting used to, but you can definitely learn how to do it. Whenever you notice yourself being overly negative and down about a situation, just stop those thoughts. Start thinking of something that makes you happy instead and soon enough, your brain will default to positive thoughts. [Read: How to stop having negative thoughts that drag you down]
If you find the same thought popping up a lot, reframe it into something positive instead. So, if you’re always thinking how horrible the rain is, start thinking about how nourishing it is for the trees.
It sounds difficult, but the more you repeat the positive thought, the more likely your brain will think of it first.
6. Practice gratitude and be grateful for what you have
Truth be told, your life probably isn’t as bad as you think it is. Take a good hard look around and see how much greatness you have. Taking a minute every day to just appreciate what you have can make you be a lot more positive. You’ll start looking at the good things instead of focusing on the negative all the time.
Why not keep a gratitude diary? Write down three things every day that you’re grateful for from that particular day. They can be tiny, medium, or big, it doesn’t matter. You’ll soon start to realize that your life is pretty blessed. [Read: How to be grateful – 20 authentic ways to appreciate and express it]
7. Think of solutions intsead of setbacks
If you’re a pretty negative person, you’re automatically going to sit there and see the setbacks in a situation. A positive person, on the other hand, will see the solutions.
In both cases, you’re recognizing that there’s a problem but if you want to know how to be more positive, you have to start seeing only solutions. It’ll make you a lot less upset and you won’t complain nearly as often.
8. See problem as learning opportunities
When something goes wrong, for sure it can be annoying. But, there may be a lesson there. Always look for the lesson and you’ll be able to do better next time.
Learning how to be positive isn’t about never experiencing problems or bad times, it’s about how you look at them. When you can learn, you can do better next time. [Read: 12 things about love you’ll only learn from experience]
9. Smile more and you’ll learn how to be more positive
You might be annoyed at this one because it seems as though you can’t smile more if you’re overly negative. Well, smiling more can actually help you be more positive.
Your brain can take physical cues from your body and adjust itself. Cool, right? Smiling more will trick your brain into thinking you’re in a good mood when you might not have been. The result? You’ll be in a good mood anyway. [Read: How to smile more often and change your life]
10. Correct your posture
This is something many people aren’t aware of but it could potentially make your life a lot better. Your posture is very much connected to your mindset.
If you stand up straight and keep your shoulders back, you’ll be way more positive than if you slouch when you stand. The other positive is that you’ll appear more confident too, which eventually will make you feel more confident as a result.
11. How to be more positive? Do kind things for others
Doing nice things for someone else can actually put you in a better mood. When you’re bettering the lives of other people, you’ll realize how much good you can be putting out into the world. This will help you think in a more positive way regularly.
Of course, they’ll also feel great and you might even put a smile on their face that will change their day. It’s win-win all around! [Read: 20 ways to pay it forward with kindness]
12. Spend more time in the sun
Sunshine isn’t just great for Vitamin D, it’s also great for your mood.
Getting some fresh air and being out in the sun can do amazing things for your mood. The next time you’re feeling a little down, get outside. Spending more time outside, in general, will help you be more positive.
13. Do more of the things you love
Maybe you’re in such a bad mood because you haven’t been doing anything you’re passionate about. When was the last time you did something you loved? Something that made you really, really happy?
When you do the things that put a smile on your face, you’ll feel more positive and much happier too.
14. Cheer someone else up
Instead of trying to make yourself happier, try to cheer up someone else. Go put some work into bettering someone else’s mood. Then ask yourself what you did to make them happy.
Often, we tend to help other people in the ways that would most help us. Figure out what that is and apply it to your own life. [Read: 18 ways to cheer someone up and make them feel happy]
15. Fake it ’til you make it
It’s an old saying that still holds true today. If you want to be more positive, just pretend you are and you’ll get there eventually. This method works by tricking your brain. The more you pretend to be a certain way, the more your brain will think that’s how you should be.
16. Practice learning how to be more positive every single day
This isn’t something that can be accomplished in just a day or a single week. You’ll need to work at it every single day. But after a while, you’ll wake up and realize you’re a much more positive person than you ever have been before. [Read: Mantras to live by – 21 positive mantras that will transform your life]
Turn off the media. Yep, that is right. The world is not going to fall to pieces because you didn’t watch all the horrible things on the news or online. The reality is that if someone wants to do something, they are going to do it no matter what you think or do.
So, why waste so much time listening to horrible incoming messages. It just makes you feel out of control and doomed. What is the point in that? Unplug from the media and you will be instantly amazed by how much more positive you feel.
The media’s job is to create drama. Don’t buy into it. It only makes you feel negative and nervous. Who needs that? Stop being guided by people who use your emotions to further their agenda. [Read: Social media addiction – The 16 alarming symptoms and how to break out]
Social media is great in some ways, but it’s pretty toxic in others. Most of what you see on social media platforms is fake or something a person has posted to make themselves feel good. This is usually achieved by making others feel bad. We automatically compare our lives to those of others and when you are bombarded with fake news online, you’ll find yourself comparing your life to nothing but a lie. [Read: Dangers of social media – Why it makes you feel really insecure]
19. Always try to see the silver lining
No matter what happens around you, there is something positive that happens as a result.
For every bad situation, there is something good to be found. You might have to look a little harder sometimes more than others. There is always a positive to any negative. It is like a physiological law, or something like that at least!
20. Find your purpose and learn how to be more positive
Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? If you sit down and think about what it is that you are here on earth for, it is a daunting question. If you figure out the big picture, like why we wake up every day and do what we do and what the overall purpose of it is, then it is much easier to think about good versus not-so-good.
Just stop for a second and examine what it is that you want your life to add up to. When you find your purpose, everything feels much more positive. [Read: What is my purpose in life? How to find meaning when you feel lost]
21. Take a good look around you
It is not hard to start feeling negative and sorry for yourself when things aren’t going the way that you want them to. The thing about life is that no matter how hard you have it, there is usually someone who has it worse than you.
When we mean someone, we don’t mean your close friends and family. We mean the people involved in natural disasters, war, and poverty. Those less fortunate than us should always guide us to see the many blessings we have been given and to stop the pity party and negativity that turns even the bluest sky to black. [Read: How to be chill and learn to live a happier life as a result]
22. Let go of your past
We hate to say it, but some of us grew up with role models that weren’t exactly encouraging and positive. When you live with people who tell you that life isn’t fair, it isn’t that they aren’t right. But the truth is that life might not be “fair,” but it is fun and worthwhile even if you don’t have what you want and what everyone else has.
No one is going to get exactly what they want.
That whole phrase “life isn’t fair” is a coward’s way out of explaining that sometimes we don’t get what we want. We get what is good for us. Stop thinking the world is just this place that isn’t full of justice and start seeing that if you didn’t ever have misfortune, how could you possibly understand what it means to be fortunate.
If you grew up in a negative household, you must learn to retire those old notions and feelings. See for yourself that life is a wonder.
The only one who changes your fate is you, so go after it. Forget whatever it is that your role models told you about how the world does or doesn’t work. Decide for yourself. [Read: How to let go of the past and be excited by the future]
23. Experiment a little when learning how to be more positive
Try this for one day – just one, if you want to know how to be positive. Think about nothing but positive things for one day. No matter what comes your way, dismiss it, and think happy thoughts about something else.
Old habits die hard, and if you tend to be someone who thinks negatively, finding positivity isn’t going to come naturally. But, with some practice, it will come your way. It is going to take some conscious effort to override what you are used to. So, try to find the positive side of life.
24. Change how you speak to yourself and others
If you start talking in positive terms, then your entire outlook will change. What do we mean? Stop saying words like never, not, don’t, and other negative terms. [Read: How to master positive self-talk and banish negativity]
If you eliminate those limiting boundaries through the words you speak, you will be amazed at how quickly your mindset follows. Sometimes hearing ourselves talk out loud is the worst negative reinforcement there is.
So, change your mind, your speech, your surroundings, and your thoughts. With that, you just might find out how to be more positive and change your life.
[Read: How to live in the moment – 20 positive ways to live in the now]
Being a more positive person isn’t out of reach. Knowing how to be more positive and let go of the negativity can help you live a much happier life. Take that first step with these tips, and watch a whole new, happier life unfurl in front of your eyes!
