How to be positive

(Two tips to STAYING positive)

Positivity is NOT walking around with a smile on your face at all times pretending like nothing ever goes wrong.

Yes, the state of being positive is associated to good feelings such as happiness and joy.

However, to be a positive person, does not mean that you only experience positive feelings and thoughts.

To be positive is to accept that negative things happen, while staying positive in spite of them.

When bad things happen it's important to try to find and remember.

Find the good in them. Even bad things can be good…if there is a lesson in them.

Remember the good that was before them, or in the good that will come after them. In other words, remember the good times because they are a reminder that it isn’t all bad. Life is full of seasons. Neither happiness nor sadness are permanent states of being.

As humans we experience something called the “negativity bias” or “negativity effect” where things of more negative nature tend to have a greater effect on our psychological state of mind than positive things do.

A million things could be going right in our lives and we could receive a million compliments, but it only takes one thing to go wrong or one person to say something negative to take away all the good we were feeling.

We have to realize that when we allow these things or people to do this to us we are allowing them to take something from us.

So, how do we combat negativity with positivity?

Step 1: We have to be aware that we are being negative in the first place.

If something upset you or hurt you accept it. Give yourself the space to feel it, then let it go and move on. How? Well that leads me to the second step.

Step 2: We have to FIND the positivity.

Sometimes that can be challenging. If you can’t find a reason for how a mistake you made could benefit you tell yourself, “well at least I’ve learned this now, so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again and I can avoid more important and maybe even more costly mistakes from happening later”.

You are capable of achieving the self-awareness necessary to take control of your mind and switch the direction of your thoughts to something more positive and productive.

When you are going through a challenging time remind yourself of the good that has been and the good that will come.

Your current place is not your permanent place.

Sending you love & light,

Linny