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How we live our lives is a direct reflection of our beliefs and our attitudes towards life.
While we can fill our lives with healthful, positive habits, like practicing yoga every morning, we can also choose to fill our lives with negative habits. For example, being quick to complain or point out the negatives.
Habits like these are easy to overlook. They can creep up on us and become a part of our lives without us even noticing.
Luckily, there are a few, easy things you can do to both improve your mindset and replace any negative energy with positive energy. Use these 7 tips to cultivate a positive mindset, and let your life be a reflection of its positivity.
7 Ways to Cultivate a Positive Mindset
1. Set a positive tone for the day. How you start your day sets the tone for how the rest of the day unfolds. Think about it. Have you ever woken up late and found that everything that followed just went wrong for the rest of the day? This is probably because you let the stress and negativity of that not-so-great start carry over into all of your other daily activities. Instead of letting your day start out this way, develop a solid morning routine that refreshes and energizes you. Include grounding activities into your morning routine, such as yoga, meditation, or simply giving yourself positive self-affirmations.
2. Find the silver lining in every situation. On those days where nearly everything seems to be going wrong, find even the smallest, good things to focus on. For example, say you got lost trying to find this new restaurant for dinner. While you may have driven around for an extra 20 minutes, you finally had the opportunity to listen to your favorite podcast or book on tape.
3. Turn mistakes into lessons. Mistakes are inevitable, but that doesn’t mean you should see them as ways in which you have failed. No matter how bad or useless your mistake or perceived failure may seem, there is always a way to learn from it. Find the lesson within the mistake, and you’ll quickly see that instead of viewing your mistake as something that’s negative, that you’re actually able to grow and learn from it.
4. Celebrate, don’t minimize your successes. Do you often catch yourself trying to minimize your successes? Or downplaying something you did well? Rather than reducing your efforts and hard work into something they aren’t, celebrate your efforts. Rejoice in your successes. Take pride in the things you do well and embrace your unique strengths.
5. Compliment someone. There’s nothing like seeing someone light up with a genuine smile when they receive a compliment. Set a positive tone for the day by sending out vibes of kindness towards others. That positive energy will undoubtedly come back to you when you most need it.
6. Take deep, healthful breaths. How we breathe is inherently connected to how we feel. Think about when you’re anxious, or angry. Do you hold your breath? Does it become shallow or ragged? Change any negative emotions to positive by simply focusing on taking deeper, calming breaths. Learn more about the benefits of deep breathing here.
7. Use positive words to color your life. How we speak about ourselves, our feelings, and our lives is a powerful reflection of who we are and what kind of lives we’re living. For example, if you describe your life as uneventful or boring, your mind will perceive your life as, well, boring, and you’ll begin to accept your life as humdrum and unexciting. However, if you use words like lively, exciting, spirited, or invigorating, your mind will perceive your life as these words, and will completely change how you see your own life.
