While we don't all see life the same way, we can always train our minds to maintain or cultivate optimism.
Last update: February 20, 2022
Achieving our goals, facing any challenges and overcoming failures largely depends on the optimism with which we live our lives. Although we don't all see life the same way, we can always train our minds to maintain or cultivate optimism.
Our brain is an organ that we need to train. Just as we train to keep the heart or lungs healthy, the brain requires some changes to exploit its full potential.
We tend to pay more attention or to keep negative information. This is not all bad, as by remembering and addressing our failures we gain the skills to find better solutions in the future.
But if these ideas get our full attention, we fall back on pessimism and negative ideas. How to avoid it and learn, instead, to cultivate optimism?
Cultivate optimism with awareness
We focus on the negative aspects unconsciously and it is important to work to consciously change them. The following tips will help change your perspective.
1. Change negative thoughts
Whenever we have a negative thought, let's contrast it with a positive one. Our minds absorb negative memories and make them bigger and more meaningful than they really are.
To minimize them, we need to analyze and visualize them more objectively. The next step is to minimize them by comparing them with related or similar memories that are more pleasant.
In this we radically transform them and select our new thoughts. This is possible thanks to a learning process that will take some time, but with patience we will achieve the desired results.
2. Express gratitude
Negative events are aggravated by our minds unless we balance them with awareness. When facing a challenge, it is advisable to analyze what is going well. Taking the time to do this allows you to record the positives.
To help the brain memorize positive events, we should analyze each week for which we should be grateful. The next step is to write or let our loved ones know that we love them and why we are grateful to them.
3. Repeat positive affirmations to cultivate optimism
Positive affirmations are crucial to maintaining the optimism obtained with the previous two steps. The messages we repeat to ourselves most regularly are the ones we believe in and determine our outlook on life. These must be repeated with conviction and be a constant in our daily life.
We can start with one or two statements that represent our life values ​​and the goals we want to achieve. For example, "I feel better every day" or "this is my best time".
Repeating similar phrases will allow the mind to interpret negative events differently, it will make you stronger in the face of them and help maintain optimism.