Do you want to feel more optimistic in life?
Optimism is an important trait that can help you in many ways.
It can keep you moving forward when you’ve experienced failure. And it can be an antidote to the ill effects of negative thinking. When you think negatively, feel fearful, or stressed for long periods of time, you build up cortisol in your body which then impacts your heart and other organs.
You may think that being optimistic is something that you have to be born to. But this isn’t true, you can develop the ability to feel more optimistic about life in general.
And we’ll look at how you can do that with a few practical steps.
Be aware of negativity bias
One of the arguments against being optimistic is that it’s seemingly unrealistic. Many people viewing life through negative lenses believe that they have a more accurate view of the world. However, this simply isn’t true.
A truly rational and objective understanding of the world is knowing that life brings us both good things and bad. And focusing only on the negative is simply our negativity bias in action. It’s a survival mechanism that helps us be prepared for future difficulties but oftentimes becomes the default state of being.
To be optimistic is to understand that life offers opportunities along with challenges. And by being aware of a tendency to be negative, we can consciously move towards being optimistic and positive in life.
Practice being grateful
To help you feel more optimistic, it’s useful to create a gratitude journal or to simply look for things to feel grateful about.
Make it a daily habit to write about a list of things that are good in your life. You can blog about it, share in on social media, or make it a part of your community conversations.
When you practice creating a page of thankful content daily, you immediately improve your state of mind. And you’ll also become more mindful of the good things that exist in your life.
As a result, you’ll naturally develop a more optimistic belief system.
Build a more positive environment
No one can force themselves to be optimistic in a negative setting for too long. It’s critical to not only make inner changes but to also influence your environment as much as possible.
For example, actively look for news outlets and media sources that focus on objective or even positive news.
Go through your social media feed and start blocking or removing content that is overly pessimistic. And most importantly, try to cultivate friendships and relationships in life with people who are also optimistic in their outlooks.
The people you associate the most with strongly influence your state of being and even how well you perform at work. Your friends and family bring knowledge and experiences to your life that influence how you think, feel, and behave.
By spending more time with positive people, it becomes easier to maintain an optimistic mindset.
Conclusion
When you develop the habit of being optimistic, you’re more likely to follow your goals. You’ll also build mental resilience – the ability to withstand challenges and overcome them.
If you aren’t an optimistic person in general, then don’t worry. Anyone can develop the ability to be more hopeful and positive about the future. It’s about cultivating the right mindset.
This is possible with self-awareness and by creating a social life and an environment where positivity and optimism are the norms.
And finally, you can learn to become more optimistic by expressing gratitude. Keep practicing these few tips and in a very short period of time, you’ll feel differently and change how you experience the world.