Bringing Positivity Into Your Life

Have you ever noticed the extra spring in your step when you focus on positive outcomes rather than dwelling on negative thoughts, words and unhappy feelings? Have you found you have increased motivation when you believe in yourself and your ability to achieve goals? Bringing positivity into your life can have a huge impact upon how you feel about yourself, your relationships and life in general.

Positivity is a mindset. It’s not about thinking the world is going to be wonderful just because you want it to be, it’s about consciously making the choice to live a positive life, valuing yourself and your dreams and believing you can achieve any goals you set for yourself. People with a positive mindset believe they can overcome obstacles and difficulties and make a conscious effort to avoid negative thoughts and negative self-talk. They view the world with optimism, choosing to focus on happiness, a healthy lifestyle and making dreams come true.

Having a positive mindset usually translates to being able to cope more effectively when things don’t go as planned. Instead of dwelling on negative thoughts and self-talk, a positive person will view a setback as an opportunity to learn and grow. They will look to see how things can be done differently and see the situation as a challenge to overcome.

A positive mindset comes from within. It comes from recognising your current strengths, being willing to learn new ones, engaging in positive self-talk and truly believing you are a worthwhile person. Always remember, how you view yourself will influence the way you behave, your interactions with those around you and your ability to achieve your goals.

Ways to bring positivity into your life include:

• Use positive self-talk. When you catch yourself letting negative self-talk run through your mind, replace the negativity with positive dialogue. Having a continual negative dialogue running through your mind is demotivating and smothers your ability to believe you can achieve things. In contrast, engaging in positive self-talk helps to increase confidence, self-esteem and motivation to succeed.
• Ignore negative things other people say about you. Negativity breeds negativity, so reducing the opportunities for negative people to influence your thoughts is very important.
• Visualise positive outcomes and the steps towards achieving your goals.
• Use positive words when you interact with others.
• Use affirmations to re-train your brain to think in a positive manner.
• Have a positive environment around you. Surround yourself with uplifting positive people, have inspirational books at home, listen to music which makes you happy and have podcasts on hand to motivate you.

If you feel counselling can help you to bring positivity into your life, please call Karen Cummins at Mindful Crossroads counselling services on 0400 416 535 or fill in the “Contact” section on the Mindful Crossroads website to arrange a confidential discussion.