As the New Year is only a couple of days away, many people are starting to think about their New Years Resolution.
I’m sure if you talk to a handful of people most of them will say they want to be more positive, open minded or even improve their mental health.
Little do they understand that often, these three things go hand-in-hand.
Being open minded and more positive improves your mental health. Being open minded can cause you to be more positive in turn improving your mental health and vice versa.
These three things often have a huge impact on each other and without one, the other two can be difficult to achieve.
If you have read my blog post about the book The Secret (The Law Of Attraction) then you know that I have talked about the importance of positivity and gratitude. However, I also know that sometime life throws shit at you and it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
This is why, when I went in search of inspiration for a Positive Mindset post, I came across this amazing article from Fulfillment Daily and there was no way that I would be able to write anything better.
The article does a great job of reminding you how you can change your mindset in some of the littlest ways in order to improve your mental health, improve positivity and become more open minded.
Whether you have heard the importance of being positive but at times it can be difficult, or maybe you never heard of the impact being positive has on your overall life, either way, this post is an awesome reminder (including scientific articles) as to the great importance of being positive. Check out the article below!
Fulfillment Daily: 10 Simple Habits To Grow A Positive Attitude
Our life is a reflection of our attitude. Without even noticing it, it can be easy to become negative and cynical towards the world as we are continuously exposed to tragedy and injustice in the media and as we experience our own heartache and distress.
Not only is a negative attitude preventing you from fully enjoying your life, it can have a significant impact on your environment. The energy a person brings with them is contagious. One of the best things you can offer your family, organization or community is your positive attitude.
In the wise words of Michael Jackson, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.” As creatures of habit, by making small adjustments to your daily life and mindset, positive habits can be formed to make yourself and everyone you interact with happier. Here is a list of 10 habits that can turn a gloomy outlook into an effortlessly optimistic attitude.
1. Keep a gratitude journal.
Sometimes one single event can ruin an entire day and an unpleasant interaction or experience at night can overshadow the enjoyable parts of our day. With this awareness that our mind tends to cling to the negative, we can intentionally focus on the good parts of our day to offset this imbalance. Try writing down 5 things that you feel grateful for every day and see how your attitude changes. Science has found that gratitude can significantly increase your happiness, and protect you from stress, negativity, anxiety and depression. Check out this list of 13 ways gratitude will significantly improve your life.
2. Reframe your challenges.
There are no dead ends, only re-directions. Although we might try, there are very few things in life that we have complete control over. We should not let uncontrollable occurrences from the outside turn our inner to mush. What we can control is the effort that we put in and when we give our full effort, there is no reason for regret. Have fun with challenges, embrace them as adventures instead of attempting to resist an experience for growth. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.” – Robert Kiyosaki
3. Get good at being rejected.
Rejection is a skill. Chalk every broken heart and failed job interview as practice because no one gets to slide through life without being rejected. Don’t let it harden you and don’t expect the worse. If you wait for bad things to happen, chances are it will or you’ll narrow in on the bad in the midst of the may good things you’ve missed along the way. When there are cracks in your heart, they let the sun in.
4. Use positive words to describe your life.
The words that we use have a lot more power than we think. How you talk about your life is how your life will be. Your mind hears what you say. If you describe your life as boring, busy, mundane, chaotic, that is how you will percieve it and you will feel the effects in your body and mind. If you use the words simple, involved, familiar or lively, you will see your life in a whole different light and find more enjoyment in the way you chose to shape your life.
A study from US data suggests that having a positive attitude is not only has a direct effect on your happiness, it is also correlated with your earning wage.
5. Replace have with get.
Do you ever notice how many times we say that we have to do something? I have to go to work. I have to go grocery shopping. I have to pay my rent. Now change this one little word to get and see what happens. I get to go to work. I get to go grocery shopping. Even, I get to pay my rent. Your attitude quickly changes from needing to fulfill obligations to being grateful for the things that we become accustomed to having: a job to support you and your family, food on the table, and a roof over your head. Try to make this change when you are thinking to yourself and you may feel and appear happier and less stressed.
6. Don’t let yourself get dragged into other people’s complaints.
Your day was going pretty well and then you get to work and your co-worker can’t stop complaining about the cold weather. You didn’t really think about it before he/she brought it up and now you find yourself agreeing and joining in on the complaint-fest of how sick you are of this cold weather. In a month you’ll be pulled into complaints about how it’s too hot. Don’t fall into the trap. A study done at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology shows that complaining leads to lower moods and negative emotions, decreased life satisfaction and optimism, and emotional and motivational deficits. You might find that your co-worker will complain less without the validation of someone else having the same complaint.
7. Breathe.
Our breath is directly connected to our emotions. Have you noticed we hold our breath sometimes when we are concentrating on something? Can you feel your breath change when you are angry or anxious? Our breath changes depending on how we feel. The great news is that the connection goes the other way too. We can also change how we feel using our breath! Check out this infographic on the scientific benefits of breathing.
8. Notice the righteous in times of tragedy.
It’s hard to have hope and stay positive when hate and violence is all over the media. What we don’t see as much is that in every instance of natural disasters, war, traumatic experience, you will find people rising up, reaching out to each other and showing raw compassion and love. Hold onto the stories of modern day heroes and selflessness in the times of fear and devastation.
9. Have solutions when pointing out problems.
Being positive doesn’t mean that you have to be oblivious to problems. Positive people have constructive criticisms to improve conditions. If you are going to point out problems in people or situations, place just as much effort into suggesting solutions. Instead of pointing out all of the things that are wrong, offer ways to make it better.
10. Make someone else smile.
Who do you think about most of the time? If we answered honestly, most of us would say themselves. It’s good to hold ourselves accountable, take responsibility for our life roles, hygiene, food, etc. but set a goal for each day to make someone else smile. Think about someone else’s happiness and it will help us to realize our immense impact that our attitude and expression has on the people around us.
Final Thoughts: 10 Habits to Grow A Positive Mindset
Sometimes the task of changing out mindset can be difficult. We think that we have to control every single thought, however, that is not the case.
All you need to do is start making small changes in our daily life and eventually those changes will snowball into something bigger and better in the coming days, months and even years.
All you have to do is start. Start making the effort. Start trying to change.
If you make one small change and do it successfully, you are more likely to make more successful, bigger changes in the future.
So the only thing that you need to do is start.
I hope you all got as much out of this amazing article by Fulfillment Daily as I did! I would love to hear your thoughts on what you are doing to change your life in the coming days and years!
If you have any questions please reach out to me via brooke@babblingwithbrooke.com. I would love to hear from you!
If this article inspired you to change your life, no matter what day it is, then you can find my recommended products down below for what I use to keep track of my life and to help improve my lifestyle and mentality.
Passion Planner: I love this planner! It has time blocks for each week, a monthly calendar, a place for your three month, year long and 5 year goals, each week it goes through and has tasks’ that have you write down what your daily priorities are as well as weekly along with so many other things! This planner is meant for the individual wanting to succeed and change their life! Plus, they have videos and directions on how exactly to achieve success using the planner.
Happy Reading!
*This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase through one of my links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Please note- I only recommend products that I use and LOVE myself!
