Many wonder how they can be more positive and think optimistically in their life, for me it has become a natural occurrence, but it took years to master. For one, recall that research says it takes 21 days to make a habit, so I invite you to use the next 21 days to do the following as a means to visualize and live a more optimistic lifestyle.
To start, I want you to come up with three words that describe yourself and set a post-it paper in areas in your home or office that will allow you to see these three words throughout your day. My three positive words that describe who I am are:
- Awesome
- Intelligent
- Beautiful
I give myself the above three words because they are three positive words that uplift me, your words may be completely different and that is okay. Take action each day to remind yourself of the words you chose and live up to them. If you start to feel negative, recall that you are awesome. If you start to feel ugly, remember that you are beautiful. Put that positive thought back into your head, in turn this will start to redirect your pattern of thoughts into a more positive frame of mind. Each moment of the day that you can, think about how awesome, intelligent and beautiful you are; remember those three words need to be your own unique words that you chose for your own self.
The second step to your 21 days of visualizing a more a positive outcome is to really pay attention to your brain’s automatic response to any situation. We have been conditioned to think a certain way and protect ourselves based on life experiences, so if you have had a lot of trauma in your life, the brain pattern will automatically go into this protective mode. Our brains want the easiest solution and this is always based on how we responded to past experiences. If you want to visualize a more positive outcome in life, then you need to work on how you think about situations.
I will tell you this as an example; you can actually train yourself to ruin your relationships. Do you have an amazing friend or partner who does nothing but awesome things for you, yet you still find yourself full of anxiety and irrational fear of the relationship based on prior experiences? For example your brain could have this automatic response of questioning why someone is doing something nice for you because in the past you have learned that people only do nice things for you if they want something in return. We all can relate to a situation like this, where we experienced an act of kindness from a partner or friend only to find out our happy, thankful attitude was damaged by the person expecting something in return down the road. Train your brain to not let your new friend or partner pay for those past experiences.
Live in the now, live for today and let today be your day to start thinking more positive.
As a means to help others be more optimistic, I am going to share with you some tips on how you can be successful in changing your mind for the positive. Many make New Year’s resolutions, and what better resolution than to learn to live forward and think more positively?!
Today your task is simple, add a daily list of three positive adjectives that you will read from a post-it note throughout the day, maybe set an alarm on your cell phone so that it goes off periodically throughout the day as a reminder that you are these three things. Next step to practice during the next 21 days is to pay attention to your brain’s automatic response to situations that put up this red flag to protect you. Do not let your brain’s current automatic response play a role in your life any longer, redirect your thought in that protective moment into a positive one and live for today!
Come back again in a couple of days, I will have more advice for you on how to make the next 21 days of your life change for the better!
I usually consider myself to be a very optimistic person, but it can be hard. When I am having a bad day I tell myself that I can make myself feel better if I DECIDE to feel better. I might not feel wonderful, but I can at least feel better!