How To Stay Positive: 9 Simple But Effective Habits
Reading Time: 18 minutes Want to become more positive and stay that way? Looking for ways to learn how to stay positive even when you’re going through tough days and situations?
From the moment I started my personal development journey, I wanted to change my attitude toward life.
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I was way too pessimistic, I’ve always thought of the worst thing possible.
I wanted to not only change my outlook and perspective but also to make it stable enough so I can stay positive both on the good and especially on the bad days.
Building positivity in life is not a one-day process and it requires a lot of effort and work.
How To Stay Positive: 9 Simple But Effective Habits
There are some beautiful and some not-so-beautiful moments in life, the point of this article is to build a mindset that can handle all of these situations in a healthy way.
So, here are the 9 powerful habits that help me stay positive even on tough days and situations.
1. Extract The Positive out of the negative.
This is probably going to sound obvious but, one of the most effective ways to build a more positive outlook in life is to reframe all situations that are happening to you.
Realize that negativity is going to happen no matter what. Things that you don’t want to happen are going to happen at some point in time.
Instead of allowing these things to get you to go down a path of negative thinking, why don’t you look at them, knowing that they are going to happen, and say:
- What can I learn from this?
- What is one thing that is positive or good about this situation?
Doing so and trying to learn from every situation is way better and can actually be beneficial than judging yourself.
Before, I would let myself go down a negative spiral, thinking how things could have been different or how much I suck.
However, I’m not perfect myself.
When I’m in a negative situation – maybe I’ve failed at something, or I have been lazy and procrastinating or made a mistake- sometimes I don’t ask myself these questions right away.
That’s because I need some time to let my emotions arise to actually process them. It’s totally okay.
Don’t force the positive thinking when things and emotions are still raw, it can make things way worse.
Ultimately, you either look at the world in one of two ways:
- The world is happening TO you (negative thinking, playing the victim)
- The world is happening FOR you (positive thinking)
2. Change Your Internal Environment.
You can’t control all of those problems that are happening to you, but you can always control your reaction to every event in your life.
Imagine you own a garden, and you are the only one who has access to this garden. You can’t plant strawberry seeds and expect tomatoes to grow, right?
Well, the same thing applies to your mind. You can’t talk negatively to yourself and expect to be positive all the time.
So, my tip here is to start and acknowledge when negative thoughts are popping in your head, and go pull it like a weed that’s inside your garden.
When you notice a thought that you don’t want, immediately pull it out and replace it with a thought that you do want.
Most of the time, you can’t control your first thought, but you can choose and control what your second thought is going to be like.
Here is a simple three-step action plan when your mind starts to drift away:
Say Stop!
Actively say: “STOP! I’m not going down that path again” as soon as you notice negative thoughts forming in your head.
This way you are reprogramming your brain to stop going down the path of negative thinking.
Breathe
When we feel stressed out, we often forget to breathe. Take a minute to mindfully breathe to calm your mind and body.
You can either keep your eyes closed or open. Focus on breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, for the count of 5.
Reframe the thought.
Question the thoughts you are having by talking to someone else openly, or by questioning yourself:
- Is the thing that I’m thinking actually true and/or possible?
- Do I overreact a bit?
- Will it still affect me 5 years from now?
- Even, 5 weeks from now?
3. Identify the negativity around you.
Most of the time we are aware that our internal environment is impacting us in a negative way. But we oftentimes overlook our external environment, as it can have a huge effect on our mindset.
It also impacts our internal environment.
No matter how much we try to be positive, if there are negative influences around us that drag us down instead of lifting us up, it’s going to feel like an uphill battle.
So I have some questions to ask you. You can grab a pen and paper if you’d like to.
Who do you spend the most time with? Do you spend time with negative people?
If you feel like the people you spend the most time with are negative people, there are 2 options you can choose:
You can either let them go entirely or, you have to find a way to spend less time with them.
How about the music you are listening to?
This is a big one for me. It wasn’t until a year ago I realized it was affecting the way I felt.
I was listening to too much sad / low-vibration music but I didn’t understand how the lyrics and the music frequency itself were affecting my subconscious mind.
Put all the uplifting, mood-boosting songs you love into one positive playlist. Listen to it whenever you feel down.
Do you spend time on social media? How much?
Multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, fear of missing out, and even suicidal thoughts.
Sites such as Facebook and Instagram seem to express the image that others are having more fun or living better lives than you are.
The idea that you’re missing out on certain things can impact your self-esteem, trigger anxiety, and fuel even greater social media use.
Solution: Limit social media as much as possible.
You can mute the notifications of the apps in the settings of your phone. You can also put a daily timer on apps so whenever you reach the limit for the day, you won’t be able to use the app.
Do you watch the news? How do you feel before and after?
All the stuff you consume either by seeing or listening to, can and will have a huge effect on whether your mindset is positive or negative.
So, start by figuring out how you are going to spend less time with negative people and other sources of negativity (music, social media, the news).
Also, figure out a way to spend more time with positive people, people that bring you up and motivate you.
Remember – there is no one in control of your internal or external environments other than you.
4. Having A Bad Day Isn’t The End Of The World.
Acknowledge that having a bad day or feeling down is a healthy, necessary, normal part of being a human.
We can’t feel super positive, excited and happy all the time. We just can’t, and it’s absolutely normal.
So, don’t overstress this too much.
There are some days that everything is clicking and everything goes to plan, and there are some days that everything’s going to be bad.
Read: How To Motivate Yourself.
5. Practice Gratitude.
Gratitude is simply taking time to think about all the positive things in your life.
When you are grateful for the most simple but valuable things in life (food, a roof above your head, health) you don’t focus too much on the fact that you’re stuck in traffic for example.
By feeling grateful, suddenly those things that triggered the life out of you and got under your skin don’t affect you as much as before. That’s the power of gratitude.
A simple way of practicing gratitude is to ask yourself these following questions:
- What are the 3 things you’re grateful for in your life?
- Who are 3 people that you can be grateful to have in your life and why?
- What’s a hard lesson that you were grateful to learn?
Spend 5 minutes answering these questions and see how your mood will change instantly.
Read: Powerful Gratitude Affirmations List
6. start your days in a positive manner.
I always say, if you win your mornings, you’ve set the mood for the entire day.
The morning hours play a huge part and actually set the tone for how the rest of the day will unfold.
So be very conscious of how you spend your mornings.
If you are a student, do you wake up 15 minutes before school, brush your teeth, vigorously put on clothes, and stress every single minute if you are going to be late?
Or, you have developed a morning routine?
- Where you wake up 30-60 minutes prior
- have a shower
- meditate, do yoga
- read a book, or whatever you like doing the most.
Do you have dedicated time for yourself in the morning?
If not so, you should consider developing a morning routine.
Also, we’ve talked about how the things we tell to ourselves affect our brain and how negative thinking will cause you to be more negative.
A way around this is practicing positive self-talk, especially in the morning, where you speak to yourself positively through affirmations.
7. Don’t neglect your physical health.
This may sound cliche, and it is.
BUT,
I know the impact of a good night’s sleep on my mood, my productivity, and overall well-being.
Also, working out a couple of times a week along with eating “healthy” food helps me with my mindset.
I know the feeling of not wanting to go to the gym, or going for a run, or doing at-home workouts.
Most of the time I don’t want to do it. But, I do it anyway because I know how good I’ll feel during and after a workout.
You don’t even have to lift weights, just get your body moving.
Go for a long walk, do yoga, do some stretching, or whatever you feel like. Here are some ideas to get your heart pumping.
8. Give Positivity To someone else.
Oftentimes how you treat others can say a lot about how you treat yourself.
Want to be positive and stay that way? Spread positivity by doing these things:
- Be a helping hand to a friend.
- Give a compliment or do something nice for someone.
- Donate the clothes you no longer want/wear.
- Give your opinion to a friend in need.
- Smile.
- Encourage someone when they’re having a bad day, or need motivation.
Spread positive vibes to the people around you. You’ll feel much more positive and your mood will boost surely.
9. the Start, stop, continue method.
You may wonder: This is some helpful information, but how can I make all of these work?
How can I implement these habits to my day-to-day life and stay positive, even on tough days?
Because, ultimately, if you are reading this, you want to be more positive and stay that way, you want to make changes in your life. So, here’s how you going to achieve this:
Get a pen and paper. Write down the following questions:
What do I need to stop doing?
Maybe you’ve read this article and want to stop being on Social Media all day long and stop hanging around with negative people. That’s your goals to work on.
What do I need to start doing?
Maybe you’ve neglected your physical health for quite some time and you want to start exercising. That’s great!
What do I need to continue doing?
Maybe you already have a morning routine and almost every morning it feels like a win. Then make sure to stick with it.
How To Stay Positive: 9 Simple But Effective Habits – Conclusion
By adopting these steps, you will know how to stay positive even in the toughest situations.
Remember that the Universe always has your back and that a difficult situation is a test that will bring you closer to the things that are right for you.
Before you go, I’ve got TWO gifts for you…
The first:
The second: Free access to The Energy Clearing class!
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