Recently I have decided to work on my positivity. I am a positive person but you can always be more positive. I will let you in on a little secret though, I wasn’t always positive. My positivity is something I worked on throughout my journey. Something that helped me do that was my favorite TED Talk by Shawn Achor. In this talk, he talks about the power of positive thinking and some things you can do to start thinking more positively. So going along with my new motto of making my life extraordinary, I am following through with the 5 positive changes: 3 gratitudes , journaling, exercise, meditation, and random acts of kindness. Although I have been only doing it for a few weeks I can see how these changes are effecting my thinking.
- 3 Gratitudes: Write down 3 new things you are grateful for each day for 30 days. This will cause you to realize all of the great things you have in your life. It will also cause you to start thinking positively because you will need to start looking for things to be grateful for. At first it was easy to think of things like friends, family, and all the stuff most people are grateful for. Soon though, it gets a little harder and you have to really think of new things like the warmth of the sun on a warm summer’s day. This will make you start to appreciate the everyday things we often overlook.
- Journaling: Journal one positive experience you have during the day every day for 30 days. This will make you relive the positive experiences you have and train your brain to look for the positive experiences throughout the day. When I first started this it was kind of hard but as I kept going it got easier. I started to look at my days differently and rethinking about my experiences to look at only the positive aspects. I know I needed to journal, so I make sure to look for a positive experience.
- Exercise: Not only is exercise good for your body but your mind as well. Exercising releases a lot of feel good chemicals in your brain and makes you feel good. It can give you more energy and help you relieve stress. It will also makes you look good and as I always say, when you look good you feel good.
- Meditation: Honestly, I was not quite sure how meditation was supposed to help at first. In the video Achor states that it allows you to focus on the activity at hand and slow down. This is true but I also use it a different way. I meditate in the morning after my workout. While I meditate, I think about the day to come. I envision great things happening and all the positive experiences that I will have. This allows my day to start on a good note and begins my positive thinking process.
- Random Acts of Kindness: Do one random act of kindness a day. Write someone a positive email, give someone a random compliment, or pay for someone in line behind you. This will allow you to make other people smile and smiles are contagious. The happier you make other people the happier you will become.
These are the changes I am noticing after just 2 weeks of doing these brain training activates. They are helping me to become a more positive person. So if you are looking to add some positivity to your life give them a try. You do not need to do all of them. Just do the ones you can fit into your life. Any amount would help. If you change the way you look at things the things you look at will change.