How to Get Into a Positive Mindset Today

How to Get into a Positive Mindset

A positive mindset is not only an integral part of good mental health, but it has also been found to correlate with better physical health. You may think that this doesn’t come naturally to you, but this does not mean that you can’t use different methods to achieve it. In the rest of the article, we’re going to look at how to get into a positive mindset through 9 different approaches.

Begin Every Morning with a Positive Affirmation

People often use “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” as an expression to describe the start of a bad day. Although it sounds silly, there is truly something to be said for the beginning of your day reflecting the rest of it.

It is easy to wake up and think of everything you expect to go wrong first thing in the morning, but if it is only going to make the rest of your day worse, why not try something different? Start each day by telling yourself the opposite. Start by saying that you’re going to have a great day and that you will achieve everything you plan to achieve.

You can carry these kinds of affirmations through to the rest of your day as well. Remind yourself regularly that you are valued by your family and colleagues, that you are a good person, and that you have and can achieve success. The positive mindset you build from this will be far more beneficial than self-defeating thoughts.

Use Humor Even When It Seems Hard

When you find yourself in a terrible situation that you can’t undo, you will find it is a lot easier to simply laugh about it rather than be angry. You will find it hard to laugh at what you perceive as your own misfortune at first, but once you change the way you think about it, it will feel natural.

It’s about finding the silver linings to the darkest clouds. If you can turn an awkward or unfortunate event into a funny story, suddenly it’s not all bad. Extracting positive from negative can be your cheat code to topping up positive emotions.

You also rarely have anything to gain from negative emotions. Choosing to dwell on the negativity that arises from bad experiences will only prolong the suffering.

Focus on What is Right Rather Than What is Wrong

The other side of dealing with things going wrong is to focus on what is going right. Instead of putting all of your mental energy into going over all of the negative events that have occurred over the past hours, days or years, look at all of the positives from that time frame.

You can cultivate positivity by focusing on the positive. The mind can gravitate toward the bad memories, and if this becomes habit, you can find yourself stuck in a vicious cycle. Counteract the bad memories with the good, and you’re guaranteed to have more of those, even if it’s just a pleasant conversation or a delicious meal.

You can even focus on what is going right around the very same scenario that you feel is going wrong. Imagine you’re on a long train journey and there is a delay. You can view that as an opportunity to read more of the book you have with you. It may not have been your plan, but you’re cultivating this positive mindset that will keep you happier overall.

Be Grateful and Let it Teach You How to Get into a Positive Mindset

When looking at how to get into a positive mindset, it is important to recognize the valuable people around you and what they do for you. Maybe you will keep this recognition to yourself or maybe you will thank them directly. Thank the person in your household who did the recycling. Thank a colleague for their help on a project.

Not only can this have the positive effect on strengthening your relationships, but it has been shown to boost your own sense of optimism, bringing you to an overall more positive mindset.

You can extend this sense of gratitude beyond other people. Be grateful to your pet for always being a loving companion, or to the birds outside for their pleasant song, or even just for what you have.

One more tip is to amplify this gratitude by writing it down. Putting your thoughts down into physical media can strengthen them, and in this case, your positivity.

Surround Yourself with Positive People-They Know How to Get into a Positive Mindset

Negative emotions can be as contagious as the flu. Not in a literal sense but being constantly around negative people can make it very difficult to stay positive. On the other hand, if you’re feeling down or struggling to maintain a positive mindset but surround yourself with positive people, it becomes so much easier to attain.

This doesn’t have to mean cutting people out of your life or completely ignoring old friends, but if you find that the social situations you find yourself in have a general feeling of negativity and pessimism, this might be one of the causes for your own negativity.

Gravitate toward groups that have a positive air around them. All of those people will certainly have their own struggles in their lives, but they maintain that positive mindset which helps them get through life with less struggle. By being around them, you can lift yourself into that mindset and reap the benefits of this positivity yourself.

Find Victory in Failure

Yet another silver lining you can find around clouds is the opportunity to learn from failure. No one can be perfect, and so failure is inevitable. You should not treat this as a source of negative emotion because it is simply a part of life.

Instead, treat each failure like a life lesson or a puzzle. Analyze what went wrong by looking at the whole situation from the third person. This way, you not only disconnect from the negative emotions by making them no longer personal, but you’ll also be able to figure out what went wrong more easily.

From that point on, it’s as easy as making a new plan with changes from the lesson learned and trying again. If you fail again, that’s not a problem. All you need to do is repeat until you succeed. This positive approach will allow you to achieve your goals and move forward in life rather than dwelling on the negative emotions that leave you stuck in place.

Replace Your Negative Self-Talk with Positive

We are often our own worst critics. As healthy as it can be to recognize where you have made a mistake, this can very easily turn into negative self-talk. Once you reach this stage, it is no longer healthy. By bringing yourself down all the time, you lose the self-esteem and motivation necessary to achieve your goals and be happy.

When you catch yourself engaging in negative self-talk, ask yourself whether you would say that same thing to a friend who was going through a hard time. The answer will almost always be no. Think about what you would say to a friend and then say that to yourself instead.

By replacing this self-abuse with encouragement, you’re still acknowledging what went wrong, but you are dealing with it in a more healthy, more positive way. The benefits to this extend far beyond the issue you’re facing. A healthy self-esteem is an important part of good mental health as a whole, which is essential to a fulfilling life.

Live in the Exact Moment

Memories of the past can haunt you and worries about the future can leave you stressed since even the most optimistic future is, by its nature, uncertain. If you’re trying to figure out how to get into a positive mindset, a great way to start is to live in the immediate present.

If you find this difficult at first, start out by becoming hyper-aware of your surroundings. Take in the smells around you. Feel what is directly under your fingers. Look around at all the little details or close your eyes and listen out for the smallest sounds.

Everything can become a lot more manageable when you ground yourself to your current place in space and time and realize that everything that immediately affects you probably isn’t so bad after all.

Figure Out What Brings About Your Negativity

You can also start to work on how to get into a positive mindset by trying to find out what is putting you in a negative mindset. It will be difficult to stay positive if you have unidentified stressors bringing you down. By identifying them, you can work on bringing them under control.

If you find yourself struggling to spot these problem areas, ask the people around you. Very often, others can spot our negative moods before even we become consciously aware of them. You may be surprised by what you learn from the answers you get.