Do you struggle staying positive? Do you sometimes feel it is impossible to think positive in many situations? Maybe you often find your mind being pessimistic rather than optimistic. We face a lot of challenges each day, and sometimes negative thoughts linger in our minds, causing us to feel anxious, to overthink and if it goes unchallenged, it can lead to us feeling miserable.
It’s not possible to think positive all of the time, but it is definitely possible to think positive most of the time! Having a positive and optimistic mindset can change the way you deal with the daily challenges of life. Not only that, it will make you healthier and happier.
Why Optimism is Important
Thinking positive has almost too many benefits to list. When life gives us challenging circumstances, being able to keep a positive mindset can be crucial to finding the solutions we need. Thinking positive generates feeling of happiness, ease and relaxation, and these feelings come with the wonderful release of the good feeling neurotransmitters in the brain and a stronger immune system. Stress on the other hand is usually caused by negative thinking, similar to when we are unable to solve a problem and think that the situation is hopeless or that the outcome is undesirable. Negative thinking stresses the body and the feelings, and this stress also weakens the immune system.
Being positive can cause us to feel better about ourselves, and helps to boost self-esteem. This can be wonderful in terms of our relationships. Thinking positive, feeling good, smiling, all are attractive to our friends and family, and they are likely to return the smiles and good feelings back to you, giving you even more reasons to be happy.
Below are 15 positive thinking exercises that can help make it easier for you to think positive each day:
15 Positive Thinking Exercises
If you want to think more positive and to become quite optimistic, take your time and give these exercises a try; see what works best for you.
1.Believe You Will Succeed
Believing in yourself is one way of feeling positive. Instead of feeling anxious about reaching your goals and dreams, try to change that outlook into a more favorable one. And if mistakes do happen, accept them graciously, and try again, because they are a normal part of a person’s life. Believing in yourself makes it easier to achieve your aspirations because when we feel that we are good enough, our live mirrors this same idea back to us in real results. You know you are worthy of reaching your highest potential, and if you stumble along the way, learn the lesson, and then get back up. Believe in yourself and everything else follows.
2. Practice Positive Affirmations
Positive daily affirmations are great for keeping you optimistic and reminding you of the good things in your life. Positive affirmations are sentences and statements that we say to ourselves that cause us to feel good, and that eventually we begin to accept as fact. “I am lovable, I am good enough,” is a wonderful daily positive affirmation that builds self-esteem and promotes self-acceptance and love. When you eventually believe in these positive affirmations, you will feel better and you will give your self-esteem a boost.
3. Make Peace With The Past
When you reminisce about past experiences where you felt some level of embarrassment, anger, or hurt, you start feeling those same negative emotions all over again. When you are having a rewind of your painful past experiences, you forget about the wonderful opportunity that exists in the present moment. The only moment is now, we cannot change the past, nor can we predict the future. All we have is the present – and keeping our minds in this moment can help us focus to create the lives we truly desire.
4. Use The Mirror Technique
Do you have a mirror in your room? If you do, this mirror may be the most useful tool for you in helping you feel good about yourself. The mirror technique is something that you can do every day, and every night; How does the mirror technique work? When you are in quiet and calm place, go to your mirror and look at your reflection. Notice the qualities that you like about yourself –both inner and outer. Give yourself praise. Tell yourself you are a great person and that you truly love yourself. Do this every day until it becomes a habit, and it will change your outlook on life as you become an optimistic and a happier person.
5. Breathe
We have the tendency to make impulsive decisions when we face stressful situations. But sometimes the best thing to do is just pause and breathe; regain a sense of calm in order to see clearly the best course of action. Breathing is a very basic human function, and we often take it for granted. Breathing has its benefits when it comes to dealing with stressful situations, as well as is beneficial with staying positive. Calm feelings are associated in our bodies with deep breathing, so the more we practice deep breathing, the more calm we will feel. The next time you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, stop, and take a few long and deep breaths. Doing this gets rid of all the chaos and brings us back to a peaceful and rational mind. When we clear our heads and think clearly, it gets easier to find resolutions and be more proactive in difficult situations.
6. Go Easy On Yourself
It’s all too normal to put ourselves down when we make mistakes, rather than realize that mistakes are the seeds of success when we learn from them. When we are too hard on ourselves, we can end up feeling depressed. Practice being more accepting of yourself and your flaws. We all make mistakes, it’s normal and it’s okay. There is nothing you can gain if you blame yourself all of the time except feelings that won’t help you grow, but will discourage your growth. Forgive yourself and encourage yourself for learning from a healthy mistake, you’re doing great.
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7. Fill Your Mind With Positive Thoughts
Read positive quotes, thoughts and books daily. If you’re serious about becoming positive, then the best way is to fill your mind with the thoughts that other positive people are thinking that helps them be the way they are. There is also always something good to remind yourself about each day. When you allow yourself to think about the good things that happened during the day, or the achievements that you are proud of, you are helping yourself become a more optimistic person.
8. Express Gratitude
Practicing gratitude is the fastest and most effective way to change your mindset to a positive one. Even if you are having a difficult day, by thinking about the many good things you have to be thankful for, good feelings and wonderful attitudes follow. These little things to be grateful for serve as positive reminders while you get through each day’s challenges. Think about the beautiful sunset, waking up to another day, drinking your favorite coffee or tea, seeing the smile of a baby or a loved one, hearing your favorite song, an enjoyable day at work, and the comfortable bed you go home to. Keep a record of these experiences in a journal to remind you of them and you’re making a serious step forward in becoming more optimistic.
9. Self-Hypnosis
Try falling asleep while listening to a motivational tape you have, or a recording of Louise Hay who made dozens of wonderful positive affirmation recordings for people to use. Using self-hypnosis opens your mind to positive ideas while it is in a flexible state. You subject your mind to what you will it to think, and as your brain accepts the new positive ideas, you’ll feel more comfortable accepting positive results in your daily life.
10. Create Realistic Goals
Creating realistic goals will make it easier for you to achieve them. It can be stressful to set unrealistic goals that always seem out of reach. Setting realistic goals and knowing how you can achieve them is both encouraging and productive.
11. Read An Inspiring Book
It helps to read an inspiring book when you are at a loss of finding a source of motivation. These books often tell stories of people who underwent incredible challenges and overcame them to find success. Reading real-life stories can be inspiring, and may bring the motivation you need to fully live your life. Reading such stories can inspire you and boost your morale, which will encourage positive thoughts.
12. Develop A Personal Mantra
Your personal mantra is something you repeat to yourself every day. These are words of encouragement and reminders to stay positive. A personal mantra is like the positive affirmations that you repeat to yourself each day, but is specific based on the goals you have and the strengths you want to build in yourself. It helps to remind yourself of these words when you are in a relaxed and calm state of mind.
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13. Remind Yourself Of Your Blessings
It is always beneficial to remind yourself of the blessings you have in your life right now. Your family, friends, your special someone, or even the comfort of your own home are all blessings
worth thinking about to support an optimistic mindset. Let these people know they are blessings in your life and keep reminding yourself of their presence.
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14. Only Use Positive Words When Talking
It is also beneficial when you start using positive and affirming words more often than negative ones. Instead of saying “No”, “Cannot”, “Would not” or “Could not”, substitute them with words are more affirmative than negative. When you do this, your mind rewires to use positive language which encourages positive action and positive results. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Yes Man’ with Jim Carrey, you understand how this works.
15. Stop Making Excuses
To be more positive, you should try and stop putting up barriers and walls against new challenges. Do your best to say ‘yes’ a little more often, and to take action rather than overthinking situations. The key to taking action is belief in a successful result, so find what works for you, and then make it so.
There you have it. These are positive exercises that you can start doing now towards a healthier and more optimistic mindset. Find what suits you best and remember to keep doing it every day: consistency is key and it takes 21 days to make a new habit.
