Republished from LifeHack
Negative situations happen all the time. We can’t avoid them, so how can we counteract their negative effect on our lives and our attitudes? Learning the power of positive thinking helps us stay positive even in the midst of tragedy. Learning how to stay positive in negative situations is invaluable in leading a healthy lifestyle. Here are 5 ways you can achieve this:
1. Have a positive support group.
It’s important to have a positive support group to help each other through difficult times. Notice I said a “positive” support group. Surrounding yourself with positive people will help you stay positive when in a negative situation. There are plenty of negative people out there—avoid them! Their negative attitudes will only bring you down and be counterproductive to what you are trying to achieve by practicing positive thinking.
2. Express what you are grateful for.
Even in the worst of times, most of us realize that we still have things in our lives for which we are grateful. Voice those blessings! Practice gratitude. Talk about the things you are grateful for with your closest friends, your support group. Keep a gratitude journal to capture the thankfulness you feel for what you have on a daily basis. Actively acknowledging what you’re grateful for will help you to always have a grateful mind and heart, even when bad things happen.
3. Retrain your mind.
Are you a person who continually beats yourself up mentally? Do you constantly question your actions? Believe me, I’ve been there. Nobody needs to call me stupid, because I can do that just fine myself! Retrain your brain to stop doing that to yourself. The more you talk negatively to yourself, the more that negativity will become a part of you. Instead, practice the power of positive thinking. Any time a negative thought comes into your mind, replace it with a positive one. At some point, this will become more natural as your brain automatically turns a negative into a positive.
4. Exercise your body and mind.
We know that exercise is good for our bodies, but what about our minds? Sure, it is! It releases those natural endorphins in our brains that make us feel better. Exercise has physical as well as mental and emotional benefits. Getting out there and moving around will keep your body in better shape, as well as boosting your self-esteem for having the discipline to exercise. You might try adding yoga into your exercise routine now and then to help you learn to really focus and meditate. Exercise is an excellent way to fight the negative effects of bad situations.
5. Accept and find solutions.
Many of us are resistant to changes in our lives. What we must do is learn to accept that change will happen. Haven’t you heard that “the only constant in life is change”? There is a lot of truth to that, as we continually go through changes, whether good or bad. Accepting that changes are a part of life can help us to relax and be more accepting. Try to look for the positive aspect. For example, if you’re in a bad job situation, what do you do? Accept it and try to make it better? Possibly. Or maybe this is the chance to make a change for yourself and look for that job you really want.
More tragic changes, such as death, will throw us off even worse, but when our brains are practiced on how to stay positive in negative situations, even tragedy won’t destroy us. With the power of positive thinking, we can learn to put negative situations in perspective … and to deal with them as they arise.
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