It is true that due to genetics, some people are more optimistic than others. However, did you know that you can learn to become more optimistic? If you are committed to being more optimistic, try these 8 ways to become more optimistic.
1. Practice Positivity – If you tend to first thing negatively try to turn your thoughts around by actively pursuing positive thoughts. If a negative thought comes to your mind, turn it around in a positive way.
2. Turn Off Your News – You don’t have to be uninformed, but cable news is delivered with a lot of sensationalism, and sadly, most people respond more to negativity. That’s why it’s so negative. Get your news from local sources and avoid opinion news and infotainment.
3. Journal Your Gratitude Daily – Keep a gratitude journal by your bedside. Each evening write down three things that you’re grateful for today. You can do it quickly by using simple bullets to describe your gratitude.
4. Accept That You Can’t Control Everything – One thing that causes people to lose their hopefulness is loss of control. However, if you can accept that you can’t control everything that can help you be more accepting and therefore, more optimistic.
5. Acknowledge but Don’t Focus on Negativity – You cannot ignore negativity totally because they are often real things. It is sad when people die, money is lost, or a tornado blows down a house. It’s normal to feel sad, negative, and upset over these things. Don’t place all your focus here though, instead find more confident that are positive to focus on.
6. Find Friends Who Are Positive Too – They say that birds of a feather flock together. If you have any friends or family members who are especially negative, try to limit your association with them and find more people to hang out with who are positive too.
7. Develop A Few Positivity Focused Affirmations – An affirmation is simply a statement of your intention for anything. Each day get up and say something positive such as “I love leading meetings at work and know that I can curb the negativity of Gerald by expertly deflecting to positive topics.”
8. Become Solution Focused – When you focus on creating solutions for the things you do have control over, it’s naturally going to make you more optimistic as you experience more success.
Optimism is the ability to see the good in whatever is happening now. Even if you sometimes feel down due to something happening if you can think clearly about it while working through it, you’re still an optimistic person. There is nothing wrong with being optimistic about life. After all, most of the time, life is wonderful, especially when you learn to be grateful for the small stuff.