A positive attitude is
important for ensuring that you have a fulfilling and enjoyable life. Building
a positive attitude will gradually make it easier for you to recognize and reflect on
positive emotions as you experience them. You will also begin to re-frame negative emotions in the moment that they
begin to occur. Taking time for yourself and cultivating relationships are important components of
building a positive attitude.
Method
1 : Understanding the Importance of a Positive Attitude
1. Understand that a positive attitude will reduce negative emotions. Having a positive attitude is important is so that you can experience plenty of positive emotions. These are moments when you’re not plagued by negative emotions. A positive attitude can help you find more fulfillment and enjoyment in life, and can help you to be able to recover from negative experiences more quickly.
2. Recognize the link between positive emotions and physical health. Research suggests that negative emotions such as stress can contribute to health issues, including coronary heart disease. Replacing negative emotions with positive ones can therefore improve your overall well-being. Positive emotions can also slow progression toward disease. This happens because positive emotions shorten the duration of negative emotional arousal.
3. Link positivity, creativity and attention. In addition to the physical benefits, a positive attitude produces a “broad, flexible cognitive organization and ability to integrate diverse material.” These effects are linked to increases in neural dopamine levels, which improve your attention, creativity, and ability to learn. Not only do positive emotions improve attention and enable flexible and creative thinking, they also improve a person’s ability to cope with difficult situations.
4. Recover from negative life events quickly. People who experience positive emotions during bereavement are, it seems, more likely to develop healthy long-term plans. Together with positive emotions, plans and goals predict greater well-being about a year after bereavement occurs. Building and maintaining a positive attitude can help you to become more resilient to negative life events such as trauma and loss. In an experiment on emotional resilience and response to stress, all of the people who participated in the experiment were given a stressful task to complete. The results showed that the participants were all equally anxious about the task, regardless of how naturally resilient they were. The difference was that people who were more resilient were able to return to a calmer state more quickly than people who were not as resilient.
Method 2 : Taking Time for Self-Reflection
1 . Recognize that change takes time. Think of building a positive attitude in the same way that you would think of building strength or developing fitness: it’s an endeavor that takes consistent effort.
2. Identify and nurture your strongest qualities. Focusing on your strengths will help you create more positive emotional experiences, which, in turn, will make handling diversity easier. Make a list of things you enjoy doing or things you’re good at. Strive to do some of these things regularly. This will build up your reserve of positive experiences.
3. Write in a journal. Self-reflection has been shown to be an effective learning and teaching tool in school settings, as well as in work settings. Self-reflection can be used to help develop a positive attitude as well. Writing down your feelings and thoughts can help you recognize your behaviors and responses. At first, it might seem a bit strange or awkward to write self-reflections. But with time and practice, you’ll find that you can see a lot of your own behavior and emotional patterns in your writing, which will help you target areas that
seem to be blocking you from your goals.
4. Write about positive
things in your day. Review the day and find positive things about it. These can include things that made you happy, proud, awestruck, grateful, calm, content,
pleased, or any other positive emotion. For example, recall your morning routine, and spend time noticing the moments
you felt peaceful or happy, such as a beautiful view along your morning commute, or the pleasure of your
first sip of coffee, or an enjoyable conversation you had. Take special time to focus on moments where you felt proud of yourself or
grateful to someone else. These can be small things, such as gratitude for your partner making the bed, or
pride in the way you accomplished a task or completed a challenge you had set for yourself. You may find it helpful to start your reflections with the positive moments of
your day, as re-experiencing positive emotions can help you adjust your perspective on the negative moments.
5. Write about moments when you had negative emotions. Identify moments in your day when you experienced negative emotions such as guilt shame, embarrassment, frustration, disappointment, fear, or disgust. Do any of these thoughts seem extreme, such as being mortified for spilling coffee on your boss, or thinking that the incident will get you fired and you’ll never be able to find a job again? Extreme reactions to everyday occurrences can block more positive, productive thinking.
5. Write about moments when you had negative emotions. Identify moments in your day when you experienced negative emotions such as guilt shame, embarrassment, frustration, disappointment, fear, or disgust. Do any of these thoughts seem extreme, such as being mortified for spilling coffee on your boss, or thinking that the incident will get you fired and you’ll never be able to find a job again? Extreme reactions to everyday occurrences can block more positive, productive thinking.
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