I love talking about mindset because it can make such a huge difference to everyone’s life. Your mindset is the lens through which you see the world, so moving from a negative mindset to a positive mindset can be really effective in changing how you feel on a day to day basis.

Here’s 5 tips to help you move from a negative mindset to a positive mindset:

Practice Positive Aspects

Our brains can very easily get fixated on the negative things we do. We can eat really well all day long and have a cookie after dinner and you can bet it’s not the day of healthy eating we focus on it’s that one bloody cookie! Practising positive aspects is a simple way to train your brain to see more of the positive things you do. All you need to do is write a list of all the positive, helpful things you’ve done each day (this practice is about what you do, rather than life in general which is gratitude as we’ll look at soon). Practising focusing on your positive aspects isn’t about cutting out all negativity, it’s more about balancing things up so your brain no longer hyper focuses on things you haven’t done or things you did wrong, and instead sees and appreciates the many positive things you do each day.

Related post: Power of a Positive Aspects Journal

Affirmations

I’m sometimes a bit reluctant to mention affirmations as I think you generally either love them or hate them – but as cheesy as they can be, reciting an affirmation can be really helpful for creating a more positive mindset. I always prefer to write my own ones based on what I’m struggling with kind of reversed. At the moment I have an affirmation that is ‘I am happy and safe even when I can’t control the situation or outcome’.

Think about where the negativity is and see if you can ‘flip’ it into a positive statement. I was being a bit of a control freak so my affirmation is really helpful to remind me that even when I can’t be in control I can still be happy and safe.

Just saying it to myself when I wake up, or when I’m having a bit of a wobble can help.

Gratitude

I’m sure this isn’t a surprising tip, but I had to include it because it is such a powerful practice! Unlike positive aspects which focuses on your actions, gratitude is more general and is about appreciating all the positive things in your life. I find that keeping a gratitude journal is so helpful in gaining some perspective especially when you’re feeling a bit negative. When you see how many amazing things you have to be grateful for it can really shift your mood.

Related post: How to start journaling

Stop hanging out with negative Nancy

You may have heard of the saying that you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. While I don’t fully agree with that statement, something has to be said for being mindful of the energy of the people you’re hanging out with. If a friend has a very negative attitude, you might want to think about how much time you spend with them. There has to be a balance between being a good friend and protecting your own energy too.

Eat the right brain food

In a similar way to the people you spend time with, the information we’re exposed to can also be incredibly negative. Social media, radio, TV, magazines etc are all ‘brain food’ which we consume. If you consume it mindlessly you can bet you’ll be getting quite a hefty dose of negativity! Looking at who you follow on social media, how much news you listen to or read, the magazines you get and how they make you feel is a great way to start feeling more positive. Let the negative stuff go and add in more positive inspiring influences.

A quick reminder – just because in this post we’re focusing on being more positive, I’m not suggesting that having a negative moment or two is ‘bad’. It’s really important to allow negative feelings to be felt and processed. The tips in this post are more about generally changing the landscape of your mindset from one that’s more negative to one that’s more positive. I don’t even think it’s that healthy to edit out all the negative things, but in this day and age I do think we are absorbing and putting out more negativity than is healthy for us. I do hope these few tips help!

If working on your mindset is something you’d like to focus on right now, then check out my completely free 5 day mindset course below. I promise you’ll never think about your brain in the same way again!

How do you feel about your mindset? What always helps you to feel more positive?