Ensure That You Are
Maintaining A Positive Attitude

There are many times in our lives (well, there are many times daily!) that putting on a smile is not easy, or it is not even what we want to do at that moment.

Think of when someone upsets you and you feel anger inside; or when you are busy with a project that doesn't seem to have brought results for a long time, and you feel discouraged; or when you see people suffering that you can do nothing for, and you feel hopeless.

These situations and many more bring up negative feelings easily, and then we cling on to them, specially if our ego is involved (like when you perceive that someone has done wrong to you and you feel that you deserve an apology).

Get out of the circle!

Unfortunately focusing on these negative feelings only creates a circle in which the more you think about them, and the more you feel negative, the more it looks like that is the reality of things, and thus you feel (justly) negative. Not helpful for maintaining a positive attitude!

The fact is that you can take a step out of the circle, leave aside the negative feelings, and choose to focus on something positive.

The following tips for maintaining a positive attitude could help you to do that. You may be able to apply only one or maybe many of these tips to your current situation, and they may even inspire you to discover your own ways to feel positive.

Five tips for maintaining a positive attitude

Use these tips to help you keep a positive attitude when circumstances around you make you feel negative. Don't let discouragement, anger or sadness trap you anymore!

• Do something pleasant for yourself: take a bath, take a walk on your own, spend an afternoon doing something that you enjoy (reading, painting, playing guitar, cooking, gardening...). You may like to check these positive thinking activities for ideas.

  By focusing on yourself and taking some time just for you, you put your negative circumstances and feelings aside for a while. When you are "back", it will feel easier to deal with them, as you'll do it from a state of calm.

• Appreciate what you do have: it's not a matter of comparing, but there are many people in worst situations than you right now. This story went, "I complained that I had no shoes, until I saw a man with no feet".

  Realize that you receive things, people, and experiences into your life that other people have no access to, for different reasons. Feel grateful for what you do have. You may like to have a glance at this page on being thankful.

• Turn your attention outwards: give time, love, or attention to somebody else. You could give a hand to a friend or spend an afternoon helping out at a charity shop, for example.

  At times we think that our problems are really large when they are not so. Getting out of your own reality will help you to put things into perspective and deal with them better afterwards.

• Don't look at results, but think of a process: this is specially relevant if you're discouraged about a project, whether personal or work-related, because we tend to focus on results. Realize that the no-results state is temporary. Think about what you are doing as a process.

  Acknowledge that there is a need for that process, which will take whatever time it needs to take, and that it is not for you to determine. Your only duty is doing the process well, so that it brings you the results you want. See it this way and you will find it easier to keep on maintaining a positive attitude.

• Trust that everything will be all right: when everything else seems to fail, having faith is a good last resort (and it works).

  Let go off fear and just trust. I read once the story of a man, hanging from a cliff, who shouts "Is there anybody up there that can help me?", and he hears a voice: "This is God, trust and let go". The man shouts again: "Is there anybody else up there that can help me?"

  Whether you believe in God or no God or whatever, trusting that everything will be all right is a good exercise for your soul. Feel the calm that invades you when you choose to trust.

Maintaining a positive attitude makes a good starting point to enjoy a great life. Find out here more tips for a positive attitude and start maintaining a positive attitude today!

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