How to be More Positive and Increase the Quality of Your Life

What most people may not realize is just how beneficial being in a great mood can be to their lives. Here’s how to be more positive and make a change.

Life is hard. It can be a real bitch to get through and if you’re always in a negative mood, it can be even harder. The best way to make the most out of life is to figure out how to be more positive.

Knowing how to see the bright side of any given situation will help you avoid getting into any negative slumps. You’ll face a difficult situation and be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s now exactly as easy as just deciding to be more positive.

How a negative mindset can destroy your life

If you look at successful people, what do you usually see? Typically, they’re friendly and able to keep their mood light throughout the day. You don’t see too many successful people complaining about how crappy their lives are.

Even if they are going through a rough patch, they’re not going to be bitching about it. Why? Because they know how detrimental a negative mindset can be to their life.

Not only can a negative mindset be harmful to your career, it’ll also impact the rest of your life in horrible ways. Your relationships won’t be as healthy and you just won’t enjoy your life as much as you should. [Read: 17 traits and ways to deal with a negative nancy]

How to be more positive and have a much better life

The great thing is that you can change your life around even if you’re a primarily negative person by default. And yes, being pessimistic or optimistic is something that your brain is automatically wired to be.

Luckily, you can change all of that if you want. Here’s how to be more positive and give yourself a better, happier life.

#1 Start your day with positive thoughts. You won’t wake up on the right side of the bed every day. You’ll probably have some mornings where you just want to hide away from the world but instead of wallowing in your angst, think positively.

Focus on getting up every day and telling yourself a few positive things about yourself and your life. Listing those things off every morning can help your brain get into the habit of waking up in a good mood. [Read: Is negative thinking ruining your life?]

#2 Step away from negative situations. There will always be bad shit going on in your life from time to time. The best thing you can do to get away from that is to just walk away. When something is upsetting you or someone is making you angry, remove yourself from that situation or person and calm down. Put your positive thinking cap on and get back to your happy place.

#3 Get rid of negative people in your life. Negative people are like leeches. They don’t have any positivity for themselves so they basically have to steal all of yours, leaving you nothing but negativity. Get rid of them. I know it might be hard but in order to better your life and become more positive, the people weighing you down need to go. [Read: 12 ways to ignore someone who mentally stresses you]

#4 Surround yourself with positive people. Just like negative people can make you feel worse, positive people will only add to your positivity. They’ll make you feel better. It pays to surround yourself with people who always seem to be in a good mood. That mood will be certain to rub off on you and you’ll be more positive because of it.

#5 Stop negative thoughts when they come. This might take some getting used to but you can definitely learn how to do it. Whenever you notice yourself being overly negative and down about a situation, just stop those thoughts. Start thinking of something that makes you happy instead and soon enough, your brain will default to positive thoughts. [Read: How to stop having negative thoughts that drag you down]

#6 Be grateful for what you have. Truth be told, your life probably isn’t as bad as you think it is. Take a good hard look around and see how much greatness you have. Taking a minute every day to just appreciate what you have can make you be a lot more positive. You’ll start looking to the good things instead of focusing on the negative all the time.

#7 Think of solutions instead of setbacks. If you’re a pretty negative person, you’re automatically going to sit there and see the setbacks in a situation. A positive person, on the other hand, will see the solutions. In both cases, you’re recognizing that there’s a problem but if you want to know how to be more positive, you have to start seeing only solutions. It’ll make you a lot less upset and you won’t complain nearly as often.

#8 Smile more. You might be annoyed at this one because it seems as though you can’t smile more if you’re overly negative. Well, smiling more can actually help you be more positive. Your brain can take physical cues from your body and adjust itself. Cool, right? Smiling more will trick your brain into thinking you’re in a good mood when you might not have been. The result? You’ll be in a good mood. [Read: How to smile more often and change your life]

#9 Have better posture. This is something many people aren’t aware of but it could potentially make your life a lot better. Your posture is very much connected to your mindset. If you stand up straight and keep your shoulders back, you’ll be way more positive than if you slouch when you stand.

#10 Do more kind things for others. Doing nice things for someone else can actually put you in a better mood. When you’re bettering the lives of other people, you’ll realize how much good you can be putting out into the world. This will help you think in a more positive way regularly. [Read: 20 ways to pay it forward with kindness]

#11 Spend more time in the sun. Sunshine isn’t just great for Vitamin D, it’s also great for your mood. Getting some fresh air and being out in the sun can do amazing things for your mood. The next time you’re feeling a little down, get outside. Spending more time outside in general will help you be more positive.

#12 Do more things you love. Maybe you’re in such a bad mood because you haven’t been doing anything you’re passionate about. When’s the last time you did something you loved? Something that made you really, really happy? Being more positive means being able to express the things you enjoy. So do more of that if you want to know how to be more positive.

#13 Cheer someone else up. Instead of trying to make yourself happier, try to cheer up someone else. Go put some work into bettering someone else’s mood. Then ask yourself what you did to make them happy. Oftentimes, we tend to help other people in the ways that would most help us. Figure out what that is and apply it to your own life. [Read: 18 ways to cheer someone up and make them feel happy]

#14 Fake it ‘til you make it. It’s an old saying that still holds true today. If you want to be more positive, just pretend you are and you’ll get there eventually. This method works by tricking your brain. The more you pretend to be a certain way, the more your brain will think that’s how you should be.

#15 Practice every single day. This isn’t something that can be accomplished in a single day or a single week. You’ll need to work at it every single day but after a while, you’ll wake up and realize you’re a much more positive person than you ever have been before.

[Read: 20 positive ways to live in the moment]

Being a more positive person isn’t out of reach. Knowing how to be more positive and let go of the negativity can help you live a much happier life.