Mindset is a very powerful thing, and particularly positive mindset. When we are positive, our lives are generally better. In this article I’m going to talk about why a positive mindset is useful, why we sometimes let negativity creep into our minds and what you can do to work on being more positive and happy.
Why does a positive attitude and mindset help us?
There are many good reasons to aim for positivity in our mindset, including:
- A positive attitude will improve your happiness levels. When we have a positive attitude we are naturally happier. There are heaps of books written about happiness because it’s something we aspire to attain.
- A positive attitude improves our confidence and self-esteem. This means we often have the ability to try things a little outside our comfort zone, or even just to attempt something. When we have goals and are positive in our lives, we are mentally more armed to achieve those goals or take steps to realise our dreams.
- You attract other positive people. We’ve all heard the expression “birds of a feather flock together” and it’s true. People who are positive are not naturally attracted to negative people; in fact, they often will avoid them. This has somewhat of a snow-ball effect, because then you are instead attracting negative people who will just say negative things and bring you down.
- Positivity tends to attract positive outcomes; so that might mean a job promotion, a new business client or a new and better job. Because you’re positive, you’ve attracted positiveness into your life and then positivity then translates into a better life for you, which may well mean a great income and more financial freedom.
- The positive person is always looking to grow and improve themselves; they will give study or a course or even a hobby a go. This study may directly improve your employment situation, or an enjoyable class, like pottery or yoga will give you immediate pleasure because you’re doing something you enjoy.
- The positive person sees a challenge as an opportunity and faces that challenge with strength, courage and enthusiasm. The negative person sees a challenge as something more to make their life harder and will invariably quit.
- The positive person sees joy all around them. Even when something might go wrong, they see the ‘silver lining’ or perhaps focus instead on a good aspect of their day – the sun is shining or someone was nice to them.
How we let negativity creep in
Some might say it’s easier to be negative; you don’t have to work hard to find the positivity in our lives. Look at COVID and perhaps being locked down (as I am now). The negative mindset will be thinking how bad life has become, what the world has come to, all the death in the world, all the lost income, lost business, lost opportunities … Well, the list can go on and on. At times it can be easier to let negativity take over.
Just watching the news, or watching news updates can feed that negative mindset.
Negativity feeds itself. As we become more negative, we base decisions on fear or anger. We may even make poor decisions or decisions which don’t serve us well. We may choose to start drinking more alcohol than we should, stop exercising, eat the wrong foods and before we know it, we’ve formed a negative life pattern which is not positive and good for us.
We start talking negative and those who are positive begin to avoid time with us. Those who are negative are attracted to our negative thoughts and the cycle continues.
19 practical strategies to bring positivity to your life
- Surround yourself with positivity. Uplifting music, bright colours and nice smells (eg burning essential oils) all impact on our senses in affirmative and optimistic ways.
- Read or write down daily affirmations.
- Exercise. When we move, it brings to us endorphins which naturally uplift us.
- Eat well. When we nourish our bodies and are healthy, we feel better.
- Do something nice for someone. We will feel better and hey, maybe someone will do something nice for you. Good karma flows.
- Know that bad things in life happen; it’s normal to feel grief, sadness or anger at times. Allow yourself to feel those emotions but try to limit that time. If you feel those emotions going on for too long, perhaps consider seeking support or help.
- In every situation look for the positive. If there is a lockdown, maybe it means you can get a chore done at home, or tidy a cupboard in your house you’ve been avoiding or simply to some it might mean revisiting a hobby you’ve not had time to do much of lately.
- Keep busy – when we are busy, we have less time to feel sorry for ourselves.
- Visit a (positive) friend, or give them a call to chat on the phone.
- Stop watching or reading the news and articles or clips which are all doom and gloom. It’s one thing to stay informed, but it’s another to bury yourself in the negativity which is the media.
- If something doesn’t go the way you’d like it – don’t see it as a failure, see it as an opportunity to learn, grow and do better next time.
- Focus on the positive. Writing in a gratitude diary every day makes it hard for you to stay negative.
- Shrug off other’s negativity. If someone has given you a hard time (that really wasn’t deserved) remember perhaps they are having a bad day. However, the only person who can make your day bad is you – if you allow it to happen.
- Stop minimising your good trails, successes or abilities. Don’t say “I’m hopeless at remembering names…” but instead reinforce the positive “I’m getting much better at remembering names”.
- Try or learn something new – a challenged mind thrives.
- Smile – you feel better when you smile, and so do those around you. In fact, if you smile (even at a stranger) they will likely smile back.
- Be kind to yourself. Don’t over stuff your day with too many tasks (so that then you feel like you haven’t achieved) and if you do let yourself down – forgive yourself.
- Reward yourself with little things of pleasure. It might be a walk, a massage, some time out in the sunshine, a weekend at the beach.
- Find positive mentors or people you can add to your life who can help you achieve your goals and become happier.
If you’d like a positive mentor, I’d love to hear from you. Give me a call on 0428 124 922 today and let’s talk about what you’d like your life to look like.