14 Jan 12 Tips for Keeping a Positive Attitude and Feeling Uplifted Every Day
I’m not really sure we can be happy every day; at least not all day every day.
It’s OK not to feel OK sometimes; it’s perfectly normal and appropriate to experience different forms of unhappiness.
But we can try. And maybe we can have even just a little bit of happiness and positivity most days ….
via Readers Digest by Cathy Garrard
Finding joy and maintaining a positive attitude can boost your physical and mental health
It’s no big secret that it’s been a rough few years for all of us. Deadly viruses, tense politics, higher prices—any one of our modern-day worries can be enough to shift our mindsets to the pessimistic side. Stress can suck the optimism out of anyone’s attitude, and when it’s prolonged, it can increase the risk of anxiety and depression. That’s certainly not a formula for maintaining a positive attitude.
Fortunately, when unsettling things happen in our lives, they happen around us, not within us. “Ultimately, we are not our thoughts,” says Henry G. Lawrence, creator and host of The Positive Mindset Podcast. “If you are having negative thoughts, those are not you. When you are stuck in the negative energy, you feel that energy.”
It’s one thing to want to be a more positive person, but it’s quite another to wrap your head around how to make that happen. And yet maintaining a positive attitude is possible no matter what life throws at you. Once you achieve a more optimistic place in your head, the rewards will soon follow. You may even learn how to be happier in your daily life, practice gratitude even in tough times, set boundaries for yourself and determine your non-negotiables to maintain a sunnier outlook.
What is a positive attitude?
At its core, a positive attitude is having an optimistic outlook and expecting good things to happen. “A lot of people come to my podcast because they feel the opposite,” says Lawrence.
And he believes that a positive attitude runs deeper than just keeping your thoughts on the bright side. “I think finding inner peace is the true positive energy, not just the joy and happiness. You absolutely want those, but inner peace is the highest form of positivity,” he says. “When you have that, you are able to observe or find what you want out of every situation in your life.”
Why is having a positive attitude important?
First and foremost, an optimistic mindset is associated with better overall health. According to the Mayo Clinic, a positive attitude can increase your lifespan, lower rates of depression, boost your immunity and even lower your risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease.
A JAMA Network Open review of 15 studies, involving more than 200,000 participants, found a 35% lower chance of getting heart disease and a 14% lower chance of early death in people who were optimists.
And not surprisingly, a sunnier outlook is also associated with a raft of mental wellness benefits. It’s linked to better well-being, fewer symptoms of depression and a greater likelihood that you’ll adopt good mental health behaviors and coping strategies, according to an article published in a 2022 issue of Frontiers in Psychology.
“You will start to see the good in every situation,” says Lawrence. “If you have a positive mindset, you will see the silver linings in every situation.”
Tips for staying positive
Maintaining a sense of optimism can come from both sustained efforts to keep it and little mood pick-me-ups when you need a quick shift in your mindset.
Happiness isn’t always directly connected to a positive attitude (we all know an optimistic grump or two), but these strategies can help you spark cheerful thoughts, promote optimism and learn how to be more positive—and how to stay positive too. And you may just find yourself in a better emotional place without even trying to be happier…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE