Positive and negative emotions are normal parts of life. When you let negative emotions become your default, then it can become harmful to your mental state and negatively impact your life. Shifting your mindset to a consistently positive one can benefit your well-being and improve your mental and physical health. If you’re having problems maintaining a positive attitude, check out these ten tips to boost your optimism levels.
1| Use Mantras
It can be helpful to have a set of mantras that helps create positive thoughts. Write down a set of inspirational messages that really speak to you. That way, when you start to feel yourself get into a negative mindset, you can recite these.
Here are some examples of helpful mantras:
- You get what you focus on.
- You didn’t come this far just to get this far.
- You can find an excuse, or you can find a way.
Having these available when you need them can provide a motivational boost and get you back into a positive mindset.
2| Express Gratitude
Psychology research has shown that just reading a list of positive adjectives can brighten your mood. Why not try to use that to your advantage and create a list of positive things in your life. Having a list of things you’re grateful for is a great way to remind yourself of the good things in life. Optimism is all about seeing the good things in life.
3| Reflect On Your Accomplishments
Every day is a new opportunity to accomplish something great. Why not start your day with a set of goals you’d like to get done, and then at night, you can take a moment to reflect on what you were able to accomplish. Ending your day feeling good about what you’ve done with your time can be an excellent motivator for the following day.
4| Positive Self-Talk
The way we talk about ourselves and to ourselves says a lot about our self-respect and self-confidence. When we are feeling low, our self-talk becomes darker and more negative. This can just make things worse and fuel self-hatred. In order to be more optimistic, we have to speak to ourselves with love and kindness. We must forgive ourselves for our mistakes and give the motivation to keep moving forward.
5| Identify Your Strengths
We all have strengths and weaknesses, but when we let our weaknesses be the only thing, we can see in ourselves, we can slip into a pessimistic mindset. When you identify your strengths, you can work on them and use them to get further in life. Use your strengths to accomplish your goals.
6| Listen To Your Feelings
Negative thoughts stem from feelings. When you have a bad day, you tend to be harder on yourself. You have to understand negative thoughts are just energy coming from you. You have the empower to shift that energy into a more positive feeling.
7| Avoid Media
Social media can be incredibly harmful to your self-image and your view of the world. A lot of social media has become a place for people to pretend to be someone they’re not or spread misinformation on sensitive subjects. Mainstream media tends to focus on all the negative things happening in the world rather than the positive. This is bad for people who spend a lot of time on social media and very little time in the real world.
Being able to use social media as a way to keep in touch and connect with people is great, but when you spend every free second you have using it, that usually ends up doing more harm than good. Having a constant stream of negative “news” can severely affect how you see the world. If you’re trying to be optimistic, it can only benefit you to stay away from mainstream media.
8| Challenge Negative Thoughts
Without noticing it, many people are constantly feeding themselves negative thoughts.
Negative thoughts include…
- I’m not good enough.
- I’m useless.
- Why is it always me?
Having constant messages like this flowing through your mind can lead to a pessimistic mindset. Get into a habit of becoming more mindful of when thoughts like these cross your mind. That way, you can stop yourself and challenge these thoughts.
A great way to challenge negative thoughts is by asking questions. Ask yourself why you think this way or what put you in this mindset. Don’t let negative thoughts run your mind.
9| Focus On Solutions Rather Than Problems
A good way to keep a positive mindset is when faced with problems, don’t focus on the problem focus on how you can solve it. Putting your energy towards fixing issues rather than on the issues themselves can stop you from getting stuck instead of moving forward.
In order to focus on solutions, you can take these steps:
- Keep your focus forward.
- Ask questions.
- Know when to proceed forward and when to step back and assess.
- Build on each successive step.
- Change what doesn’t work.
10| Don’t Dwell On The Past
What’s done is done. You can learn from past mistakes, but there’s no need to play the what-if game or place unnecessary blame. You can’t change what’s happened or the outcome, so what’s the point in dwelling.
You have the ability to learn from the past and use that information to benefit your future. Tomorrow is a new day full of so many amazing possibilities, so you should make the best of it.
Final thoughts
Optimism is a choice you make every day. You can choose to see the bad in everything, or you can choose to find the good. In order to improve your optimism levels, you have to put in the work. Don’t let negative thoughts overwhelm you. Use your strengths to work towards a better mindset. And most importantly, learn from your past but don’t dwell on it.
Being more optimistic can lead to a better quality of life and can help take care of your mental health. Negative thoughts are normal but shouldn’t be a constant. Use knowledge to your advantage and learn how to become the best version of yourself.
