Dear Humans,
I am a firm believer of finding ways to improve your way of life and incorporating positivity in everything you do. Here are 10 ways you can become more optimistic and practise positivity daily.
1. Kindness
Practising kindness will make yourself and others feel good about themselves. Sometimes in life it can feel natural and easier to be unkind especially when you are going through a hard time. Never forget that we are all equal and everyone deserves to receive kindness and love. “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” - Plato
2. Be Open-Minded
Open-mindedness is something I believe that should be taught from a very young age. Seeing ideas and thought processes from other people’s point of view helps you to be more understanding and encourages others to feel more comfortable around you. It may not be your ideal situation but try and see why this particular person may have made this decision for themselves.
3. Do things you enjoy regularly
This is the most straightforward point, if you enjoy something - do it. There is no time like the present, I had my blog planned for a while and never took the necessary steps to publish it. Doing something you enjoy can release stress and help you to meet like-minded people. Don’t let anything hold you back, start achieving your goals today and don’t let the now slip away.
4. Set realistic goals
Set goals for yourself regularly, it doesn't have to be a strict five year plan but something as small as planning to save a certain amount of money in the next couple of months or to go to the gym once a week. Be honest with yourself when setting these goals, a lot of people set unrealistic goals and feel down when they do not achieve them. Setting realistic ones and actually reaching them will make you feel empowered and encourage you to set more goals.
5. Practise gratitude
Sometimes we focus too much on is what we don’t like in our lives, when we should be putting more attention in to what we are grateful for. Make an effort to show gratitude towards others and remember that we should be practising kindness and gratitude, without the expectation of getting something in return. It is important that we do not feel entitled to get something out of kindness and we just DO. I encourage you all to…
- Write down the things you are grateful for even if it is once a month or every 6 months. This will help you to reflect on the positive things in your life.
- Take gratitude walks regularly, walking alone helps you to feel calm and incorporating gratitude can help you to destress, heal and reflect.
- Let the people you love know how much you appreciate the things they do for you.
6. Talk to people
Everyone needs someone to talk to, lean on or just have around them. Communication has a major impact on who we are as people, it is crucial that we practice communication daily. Laugh as much as you can, speak about the things you love and listen to other people’s adventures. We can learn a lot about ourselves and take something away from everyone we converse with.
7. Live a healthy life
Physical health has a positive influence on mental health remember when you feel better, you think better. Everyone feels good knowing they are putting the right food into their body, it makes you look healthy and gives you a spring in your step. Don’t be too strict with yourself, I am not encouraging crazy diets, small changes can have huge future benefits.
8. Speak highly of yourself
My favourite point, I have experienced this myself. You think negative thoughts, you speak negatively about yourself, negative things happen and then you result back to these depressing thoughts. It is a horrible cycle that you can change. Speaking highly of yourself will make you feel empowered, I only put positive statements about myself into the universe and patiently wait for positivity to be returned. When something bad happens, just let it go, it is what it is and we cannot change it, just continue to be great.
9. Avoid negative people
Surround yourself with positive people, say it with me - SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE. It is important to acknowledge what energy you allow in to your space. It is easy to suss out who you feel is good for you and who is not. Stick with the people who are there for you, who are honest with you, who enjoy your company and who do not make you feel bad about you or make you act out of character.
10. Smile!
The most simple one of them all, a simple smile can improve your mood for the better. Have you ever felt down and then something made you smile and you instantly felt better. Smiling also reduces stress, increases your productivity and makes you more approachable, meaning others will smile back at you making you both in good spirits for the day - smiling is contagious.
I hope you find these pointers helpful, whenever you are feeling pessimistic please return to this post :)
With Love,
Shay RS x
