At the end of last year, I decided my overarching focus for 2018 would be one of positivity. I felt this would improve my resilience to any life and work challenges and better equip me to let go of the things that are no longer serving or supporting me.
Maintaining a positive mindset is how I’ve become even more aware of how I’m feeling and the impact this can have on my productivity and creativity. As a business owner, I don’t want external factors to affect my efficiency or to have an impact on my day.
At this point, I’d like to add that as human beings we can’t possibly feel positive all the time. It’s valuable to experience and embrace a whole range of emotions and not to ignore how we feel. My primary goal in maintaining and boosting my positivity is to support my chic lifestyle, which ultimately has an impact on all areas of life.
So today I’m sharing what I currently do to maintain a positive outlook and mindset. Please feel free to make use of the ideas that resonate. There are no wrong or right ways to do anything in life, and we should embrace a variety of approaches to discover what works best for us.
Do positive and uplifting things
One of the best ways to nurture positivity is to focus on the things we’re grateful for and happy about. To do this I keep a gratitude journal and generally try to include the things I love in my day. I believe that when we embrace positivity and share it with the world we get it back in abundance!
In addition to this, I’ve also created a whole range of resources to help me to feel positive and empowered. These include uplifting playlists, guided meditations, inspiring podcasts and TED talks, blogs and magazines. They make up my positivity toolkit which helps and supports me on the more challenging days.
Be mindfully positive
During the working day, I remain mindful of how I’m feeling and if I notice any unhelpful thoughts I do my best to identify the trigger, so I can avoid it in future. I try to be open, curious, honest and most of all non-judgemental in how I’m feeling.
Following this, I let go of the thought. To do this I acknowledge it and gently move my focus to my breath, or I try to replace the thought with something I’m grateful for or happy about.
If I still feel stuck, I change what I’m doing to divert my attention. This usually involves making a cup of tea, calling someone, getting outside, exercising or watching something funny on YouTube. I find laugher is the greatest weapon against negativity!
Reflect on events with a positive light
When things go wrong I tend to feel out of control and this can have an impact on how I feel. Through personal reflection, I began to realise that it wasn’t always the situation that was affecting me but more the way in which I was internalising it.
With this in mind, I decided to turn around how I was viewing life’s challenges by seeing them less as obstacles and more like valuable life lessons to help me to learn and grow. I’ll admit this isn’t the easiest of things to do, but if we can’t change what happens in life we can change how we respond to it.
Let go of the things that are no longer serving me
At the end of last year, I was consuming a lot of online content that I felt was hampering my creativity. To address this, I took a step back to decide what I wanted my online experience to feel like and what voices I wanted to hear. I think it’s important to curate what you’re consuming, after all, you wouldn’t choose to spend time with someone you don’t really get on with!
After a little edit, I began to introduce some new voices and visuals into my online experience, seeking out those who inspire me to push forward and to show up as the best version of myself.
Save my positivity for a rainy day
And finally, I save my positivity for a rainy day. To do this I collect all the things I’m proud of and I save them in a desktop file or I jot them down and pop them in a jar. These kind words and happy reminders lift me when I stumble. It’s so easy to focus on that one negative remark or worry, so by collecting all the good stuff I can give myself a boost when I need it the most.
Thank you!
