Hey hey! If you’ve been following me for awhile now, you know I love my daily quotes over on IG stories every morning (I also have been pinning a ton too). I always get so many sweet messages about my quotes and how needed they were for someone and how much they appreciate them, so I thought It would be cool to chat a little bit about positivity and mindset. There’s always those certain people in your life that are always like “stay positive”, “look on the bright-side”, etc. but there aren’t many people who really chat about HOW to actually do that.
Life gets hard sometimes. It’s easy for someone to say “stay positive” if that person is already in the right mindset, but some people need some guidance on how to shift their overall thought process and brains into a more positive space, so that they can have an overall more positive mindset.
We’ve all had bad days, weeks, maybe even months, but no matter how bad the season may be, 99% of the time there is something positive to take away from an experience and/or a silver lining. I am going to go over the five most simple steps to take to trick train your brain how to think more positively.
- Being grateful. Start everyday off with 3 things you are grateful for. Every. Single. Day. You can literally text yourself the 3 things/or put it on your Notes app. Trying to think about 3 X 365 things to be grateful for might seem like a daunting task. But it gets really easy when you break it down into smaller chunks, like only 3 a day. These 3 things can be ANYTHING you are grateful for; the great sleep you just had, the new flavor of k-cup you tried and loved, your puppy, your friends, your family, and of course, your health. Once you get in the habit of doing this every morning, your brain starts to rewire. Gratitude in abundance literally triggers serotonin and dopamine in your brain, the two things responsible for our “feel good” emotions. Doing this every single morning, you can imagine how this adds up.
- Let things go. Let go of negativity. I know, easy to say when its something small. But have you ever tried actually LETTING GO of a grudge you’ve felt. Or how mad you got at a coworker when they stole your idea, or getting cut off in traffic, these things
pisstick everyone off. But if you just pause, take a second, take a breath, and never think about it again. It will have no power over you. Zero. If it isn’t going to matter in a year, don’t spend more than 1 minute being upset by it (whatever IT may be). - Complaining. This one is hard. Complaining is natural. People love to complain. Love to gossip. Love to hate. And to be clear, this is different than needing to talk to someone about something in your life, or needing to vent. That is completely fine and very healthy. I am talking about just complaining. Like about silly things (Long line at the grocery store, I don’t want to cook tonight, Starbucks messed up your order, Saying “I’m so tired” at work all day–Yea, we all are). Repeatedly complaining legitimately rewires your brain. Complaining can become a habit and the more you complain, the easier you will find it is to be negative. When you feel a complaint coming on, stop, pause, take a big breath, let it go, and think of one thing you are grateful for instead. See the trend.
- Control. This is a big one. Not having control of certain things stresses me out. I am a routine person and love my life that way. But we can’t always control everything in our lives. In fact, the majority of our lives is actually out of our control. The things we CAN control is our habits, our thoughts, our diets for the most part, our friends, etc. But so much of what we actually can control is out of our hands. So there is no reason to obsess over it, to stress about the future, or to try and make things go your way. Once you realize that all you can actually do each and every day is look at only those next 24 hours in front of you, and do the best you can in that time, then do that every single day, life starts to get a little brighter, and little less scary.
- If you’re still reading then GREAT! Cuz this one is easy and fun. EXERCISE. Our bodies were made to MOVE. We have been moving forever. We’re supposed to move. So it is no surprise that exercise makes you feel amazing. If you are healthy and able to exercise safely, this can be anything. A long walk to end your day, a run in the morning before work, and extra 20 minutes playing fetch with your dog, or that killer HIIT class 3 days a week after work. Exercise makes your brain HAPPY. It lowers stress hormones, it eases anxiety, and it makes the four things above this a little easier. The reason I put these five things in this order is because they work in sync with one another. These five tips are not crazy hard to do. But if you actively choose to do them, you WILL feel better. It could be immediate, or might take a year, but you WILL feel better.
I put together a little graphic that you can save to your phone, or put on your background on your computer, or you can print and put it in your office at work. These five things help me so much every day and whenever I feel myself slipping into a bad habit, I circle back to these 5 things. I am excited for you all to try!! Thanks so much for reading!