We all know that feeling: the world is simply just coming at you with a vengeance. You’re surrounded by negative input constantly and it simply won’t let up. So how do you light a candle against the darkness? How do you stay positive in a negative world? Let’s take a look at seven tips.
1. Smile
Whatever you do, no matter what happens, just keep smiling. There are two reasons for doing this: first of all, if you smile your brain will automatically assume you are happy and create hormones that will make you feel happy. Secondly, having a smile on your face will make you seem happy, which will make people that meet you instinctively like you and react well to you. Having people like you is a great way to start feeling a lot better about yourself. Basically, when it comes to smiling, “fake it till you make it” works.
2. Surround Yourself With The Right People
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to feel more positive, there will be someone there ready to take you down a peg and make you feel negative again. These people are absolutely no good to you, and you should avoid them or at least limit your time with them. Instead, surround yourself with happy, positive people who will help you feel good about the world and who will keep you on that path should you ever slip. You’ll notice the difference almost immediately.
3. Limit Your Media Exposure
Do you ever watch the news or read the paper and feel depressed afterward? The news media, from cable TV to newspapers to radio, are really just collectors and broadcasters of bad news. This is their business model and they will not be changing it any time soon. So, rather than watch the news and get depressed, how about you avoid the media altogether and simply enjoy life for what it is? Simply do not turn the dial and you’ll feel a lot happier with your life and your place in the world.
4. Breed New Habits
One of the things with a strong likelihood of making you feel bad about yourself is worrying about all your bad habits. How about rather than beating yourself up over not having broken them yet, you focus on new, good habits you can learn? This kind of positive encouragement is really a lot more helpful and will help you beat any bad habits with ease later down the line.
5. Spend Time With Yourself
Rather than always being busy trying to be of assistance to others, why don’t you take a little more alone time? By spending time with yourself you’ll appreciate who you are a lot more and be able to grow in a way natural to you. Besides that, some quiet time never hurt anyone and will make you feel a lot more relaxed.
6. Stay Clean In Body And Mind
Feeling dirty or eating bad food will negatively impact your self-esteem, so try to always feel clean and eat clean. By ensuring that what you eat is good, honest food rather than processed rubbish you will automatically feel a lot more positive, as will taking regular showers.
7. Look On The Bright Side
Last but not least, always look on the bright side of every situation. There is always lemonade to be squeezed from even the sourest of lemons, so make sure you go over every possible angle and you will always find the silver lining. Staying positive in this way will make sure that you’ll never have to regret anything ever again and will let you lead the life you deserve; so start now!