5 Ways to Boost Positive Thinking

A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications has suggested that an average person has 62,000 thoughts per day. The challenging part, though, is that an astounding 80 percent of these thoughts are negative. Even worse, negative thoughts have a greater impact than positive ones. A negative mindset can eat away at our creativity, productivity, relationships, decision-making skills, and overall well-being. The good news, however, is that you can train your brain to become more positive. After all, positivity is a skill that you can learn and acquire. Here are some ways to change negative thoughts and chatter with positive thinking.

Feel Good

We can only control a tiny fraction of our conscious thoughts, and the vast majority of our thinking goes on subconsciously. Simply put, most of the thoughts we experience throughout the day are outside of our control. Although we don’t consciously choose our thoughts we can pretty much control the way we feel. Moreover, it is possible to reverse a downward spiral by managing our emotions effectively. Your thoughts depend on your feelings. When you feel good, positive thoughts automatically start to come into your mind. So, stop managing your thoughts and learn to feel good. If you train yourself to feel good, your thoughts become positive automatically. Try to feel good as much of the time as possible. Do something that you love, maybe reading, writing, playing a sport, or picking up a new hobby.

Only Positive People

They say the quality of your life improves dramatically when you surround yourself with positive people. People who encourage, inspire, and motivate you rather than toxic ones because their pessimistic attitude can drain you of energy, kill your spirit, and make you feel inferior. Is there a friend, neighbor, or relative who never misses any chance to put you down or make you uncomfortable? To surround yourself with toxic people is bad for your mental as well as emotional health. So, it’s better to be with fewer positive and uplifting people than being with all those Debbie Downers.

Pursue you Passion

This one is a biggie. Being passionate about something can help you become a positive person as your brain will constantly look for things relevant to your goal and deter anything that is not relevant. A passion brings happiness to your life because it is something that you want and love to do. It is something that constantly motivates you to achieve your goals.

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is gold. Various studies have shown that gratitude is strongly associated with greater happiness. People who practice gratitude feel more optimistic, build meaningful relationships, improve their health, and relish good experiences. Gratitude helps you appreciate what you have instead of what you lack. Here are some ways to cultivate gratitude in your daily life. Keep a gratitude journal and write down at least three things that you are grateful for every day. Another way is to write a thank-you note, maybe every month, and send it to people who have an impact on your life. Also, a great way to practice gratitude is through mindful mediation. Pick anything you’re grateful for, maybe flowers, sky, nature, or a person, and focus on that thing.

Live in the Present Moment

Living in the present moment requires you to let go of any worry about what happened in the past and the fear of what will happen in the future. It means enjoying what’s happening now and embracing the isness of life as it is. Especially, if you're on a journey of self-growth and spiritual discovery, you may realize that living in the present moment is significantly important. Learning how to live in the present moment is essential for a happy fulfilling life. Follow this simple activity to recognize if you are aligned with the present or not. Write down all your fearful thoughts and ask yourself, is this fear-based thought occurring for something in the present now, or the future? You will realize that all of your fear-based thoughts are related to future and not present. It’s easy to become a positive person when everything is going your way. But what about when it isn’t? The truth is, life is full of ups and downs, good and bad, peaks and valleys. Life’s challenges, disappointments, and setbacks rob us of our positivity and makes it difficult to stay positive. The problem is that we get consumed by negative energy. What needs to be done is to deal with negative things or challenges but be consumed only by positive energy by focusing on the gifts and blessings that we have.