5 Ways to Always Be Positive No Matter What

Positive thinking is essential because our brain has a built-in negativity bias.?

From a survival perspective, negativity is more valuable than positivity. Why? Our minds often translate negative thinking as realistic thinking, which is not necessarily true.?

Storing a negative piece of information in your memory could be perceived as helpful later in the future. Your brain doesn’t necessarily want to remember positive thoughts unless you train your mind to do so.?

This article will cover exactly how to train your mind to be in a consistent positive state.?

1. Understand It’s Okay to Not Always Be Positive

Following the advice of “always be positive no matter what” will often do the opposite. At the same time, positive thinking is mighty and useful. Doing what feels positive and easy may lead to unhappiness and impulsive, anxious behavior later.

Don’t create 24/7 positivity as the standard because it will leave you asking, “why aren’t I happy right now?” which could generate unhappiness by default. Like many things, positive thinking is a skill, and a muscle one must develop consistently.

Additionally, sometimes the right things worth doing, don’t always feel great at the moment. If you use positivity as your sole perspective, it might deter you from doing difficult but worthy actions because they don’t always feel positive.

Positive thinking is essential, but don’t let positive thinking stop you from doing the sometimes complex and challenging behaviors needed to be positive, such as going to the gym when you don’t feel like it.

2. Increase Your Energy Levels

Despite the sheer effort, it’s hard to be positive when you don’t have the energy.

Raising your energy is vital because it gives your body and mind more resources to act in the ways you want to v.s. our default way of living and thinking.?

We all exist in a biological environment. Our body and brain function within trillions of cells throughout our brain, body, and nervous system. The energy of our cells and body often creates our mood, thinking, and much more.

You can take the most positive person in the world and give them unhealthy food, force them to sit down all day with no sleep or water, and they may not be as positive anymore.

How to Naturally Increase Your Energy

- Release stress via walking, talking with a friend, or meditation.

- Eat to energize your body & brain with natural, whole, nutritious foods.?

- Exercise to elevate your mood and to help with sleep quality.

- Don’t leave your hobbies & joys behind despite a busy schedule.

- Consider supplements to help with nutritional deficiencies.?

The more you work on these healthy habits, the more your energy will increase over time. Keep in mind; it often takes time and consistency to see results, don’t expect overnight success.

3. Write Your Purpose / Mission Daily

We often get caught up in the everyday details of life:

- Stressful deadlines for work.

- Tasks, priorities, a busy schedule, etc.

- Working overtime or worries & anxieties.

It’s easy to forget why you are doing what you are doing in the first place. Not aligning your purpose with your mindset can often cause a significant damaging lack of motivation.

Regularly writing down your purpose, mission, goals, or significant reasons you must do what you want to do is essential for maintaining a healthy, optimistic mood.?

Our brains are miraculous machines. You can train your mind to get what you want. If you don’t explicitly teach your brain what you want, it will often determine its path, which may not lead you down a positive road.?

4. Try Gratitude Journaling

There’s a reason why almost every culture, religion, and civilization in human history has some form of expressing thankfulness towards life and each other.?

When you write, think, and feel what you’re grateful for, it revitalizes your emotions and motivations that help shift your perspective. Consistently engaging in a gratitude practice has been shown to teach your mind to be more positive.

Our brain has an integral network called the reticular activating system (RAS). While it has many functions, the RAS is similar to a focus or filter for your perception.?

What’s even more surprising is you can program your RAS in the morning with gratitude to create a filter for your brain to see more things to be grateful for throughout the day.?

A typical example of the RAS in action is getting a new car then seeing that same colored model car on the road everywhere.

5. Spend Less Time Thinking Of Yourself

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” - Gandhi

Stand in front of the mirror and look at yourself. You might think, “I look handsome or attractive.” Now continue staring at yourself in the mirror and watch what happens. After some time, what naturally happens is your focus shifts to the parts of yourself like your face, body, nose, etc., more negatively.?

This is an example of how if you spend enough time thinking about one thing or focusing on yourself for too long, you will always find faults, imperfections, and things to stress about…

A great way to circumvent this issue is to stop focusing on yourself and how you can be of service to help others. Start small; you don’t need to do anything drastic.

- Call or Facetime a Friend or Family Member

- Consider Volunteering In Your Community

- Reach Out to Someone You Know Is Struggling

- Practice Mindfulness Meditation?

Conclusion

While it might not be possible to be positive all the time, it’s certainly possible to be more positive if you choose to work on thinking positively with the techniques mentioned in the article. Try experimenting with one or more of these habits to increase positive thinking!

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