One of the most powerful habits you can adopt is to cultivate and nourish a more positive and constructive mindset. While the concept of positive thinking may seem a little cliché for some, the mental and physical benefits of a positive mindset have been well-established by multiple scientific studies.
Not only does a positive mindset make life a lot lighter, it opens up new opportunities to get to where we want to go and it helps us to overcome challenges and setbacks more easily. A positive mindset gives us confidence and improves our mood and it reduces our chances of developing conditions like hypertension and depression as well as other stress-related issues.
A positive mindset allows us to let go of worries and we are much more motivated to keep taking action towards our goals and dreams. The question is, how can we achieve a more positive mindset and let go of negative self-talk?
Here are our TOP 10 tips to achieve a positive mindset and general optimism.
#1 Eliminate Negativity in Your Surroundings
Whatever you surround yourself with has a huge effect on how you feel and think, so it is important to ensure that your environment is as positive as you want your mindset to be. Make sure that the people you surround yourself with are positive, read blogs and books that inspire you, watch motivational movies, listen to empowering podcasts and music and declutter your life from negative sources – wether that’s people or things.
#2 Start Your Day with Positive Affirmations
The way you start your morning sets the tone for the entire day. We’ve all experienced those mornings when we wake up late and it’s a downward spiral from there. Make it a point to have a positive morning routine and incorporate positive affirmations into that. It may feel silly in the beginning but statements like ‘Today is going to be an awesome day’ or ‘I’m going to succeed today’ have tremendous power and will improve your day as well as your mindset.
#3 Find the Good in Every Situation
The biggest difference between a person with a positive mindset and someone who is a negative Nancy is how the person perceives an obstacle or setback. Whenever you encounter such a situation make it a point to find the good in it and ask yourself how this challenge can help you grow and empower yourself. Look for the one good thing that you can learn that will make you a better person in the future and don’t beat yourself up when something goes wrong.
#4 Work Out Regularly
We can’t keep stressing enough how important a workout is not just for our body but also for our mindset and our emotions and feelings. An intense workout can definitely change your headspace and release inner tensions to feel stronger not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well and science agrees that physical activity has the power to lift your mood and achieve a positive mindset because of the release of feel-good hormones such as endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. So whenever you feel like you can’t get out of a negative spell, hit the gym and you will be able to turn things around.
#5 Find Humor in Bad Situations
Allow yourself to respond with humor even in the most trying situation. Keep in mind, this bad situation is only temporary and will pass. Most likely it will make for a great story later, so try to crack a joke about it right now. However bad the situation may be, find your silver lining and laugh out loud.
#6 Replace Negative Self-Talk with Positive Self-Talk
It’s easy to be hard on ourselves and negative self-talk can creep in without us even noticing. But allowing negativity to turn into internalized feelings that cement a negative self-concept can be extremely harmful to ourselves, so it is essential to catch ourselves and turn the negativity into positive self-talk right away. Instead of putting yourself down, affirm to yourself things like ‘I will get better with practice’ or ‘I may not have succeeded this time, but now I know what to do in the future’.
#7 Focus on the Present
This present moment is all we’ll ever have, so focus on this exact moment and don’t dwell on a fight with your partner you had in the morning or the bad mood earlier from your boss. Forget what happened five minutes ago and don’t imagine what will happen in five minutes from now. Focus on this moment right here, right now and you will find that the situation is not as bad as you have imagined. One of the best tools to achieve a positive mindset is to let go of a memory of the past and the worries about the future and focus on the present and stay there.
#8 Be Grateful for the Things You Often Take for Granted
We’ve talked about the power of gratitude before, but it’s worth repeating it here again because gratitude is a surefire way to achieve a positive mindset. There are so many things in our life that we can be grateful for, but most of us take them for granted. Take a moment when you wake up or right before you go to bed to be thankful for the things that you often take for granted like a roof over your head, steady meals, clean water and wonderful friends and family.
#9 Bring Positivity to Someone Else’s Life
One of the simplest ways to get out of a negative mindset is to add positivity to someone else’s life. Give a helping hand, lend an open ear, give a genuine compliment, be kind to others, open the door for someone, thank the person who makes your morning coffee, give up your seat in a crowded subway, help a friend paint the walls or help a co-worker finish a challenging project. There are a million and one ways you can bring positivity to someone else’s life, so do something good for someone else every single day.
#10 Smile
It may sound simple, but science has proven that putting a smile on our face can instantly improve our mood and thought patterns. The muscles in our face are directly linked to our brain’s emotional center and a frown can make us depressed and moody, but a smile sends happy, positive thoughts to our mind. Make it a habit to smile more often and you will be happier and achieve a positive mindset.
A positive mindset comes with a number of benefits and can positively affect our health and well-being. We get a big boost to our immunity, improve heart health, reduce stress levels, increase resilience, prevent hypertension, can deal with problems better, extend our life span, boost our self-confidence and self-esteem, establish healthy, positive relationships and enjoy life more. Reality is, adopting a positive mindset is one of the best things you can do for your physical as well as emotional and mental health.
PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL WELL-BEING
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked