With so much going on in the world right now, it’s easy to fall into a negative thought spiral. And once you’re in that spiral, it’s tricky to pull yourself out of it. Having the right mindset tools in your back pocket makes the process a lot easier. Below, we share seven ways to shift to a positive mindset. Try one or try them all. It’s not a one size fits all thing. Everyone is different. Experiment until you find the rituals that work best for you and then rinse and repeat. Remember that self-care for your mind is just as important as self-care for your body.
Recite affirmations
The first step towards shifting to a positive mindset is becoming aware of the negative thoughts running through your mind and doing so without judgment. From there, you can begin to challenge them. Ask yourself: Is this really true? Hint: The answer is always no. Negative thoughts are not facts. Once you’ve debunked the thought, you can then bring in a positive mantra or affirmation to replace it. With affirmations, repetition is key. It takes time for the new belief to integrate into your subconscious mind. Make time to recite your affirmations daily, either out loud or in your mind. You can also program them as alarms on your phone throughout the day. The affirmations will pop up and serve as your anchor to bring you back to a positive mindset no matter what is going on.
Celebrate your wins
When you operate from a negative mindset, you focus only on what’s not working and forget to notice everything that is already wonderful in your life. For that reason, make it a daily and weekly ritual to celebrate your wins. Some days you’ll have big wins, which is excellent, but most days the wins will be small. Maybe it’s checking something off your to-do list that you’ve been procrastinating on or the fact that you treated yourself to well-deserved at-home spa day. No win is too small. The more you consciously focus on the wins, the less and less you’ll veer off into negative mindset land.
Practice gratitude
Feeling gratitude for the things, people, and opportunities in your life makes you a magnet for more of those things. Similar to celebrating your wins, it keeps your mind focused on the positive. Pro tip: It’s all about quality versus quantity when it comes to gratitude. For example, feeling grateful for the same things every day (i.e., family, home, job, etc.) can quickly get monotonous, defeating the purpose. Instead, focus your gratitude practice on just one or two things but dive deep and get specific about why you’re grateful for those things and really feel the emotion behind it as you do it.
Start a morning practice
The way you start your day sets the vibe for the rest of the day. So kicking off your morning with a mindset practice will ensure you feel and think your best throughout the day. Some things you can do during a morning mindset practice include journaling, reciting affirmations, visualizing your goals, exercising, or consuming feel-good content. It doesn’t have to take up a lot of time, either. Even a quick 5-10 minute morning ritual will change the way you show up during your day.
Surround yourself with a supportive circle
The people you spend the most time with also impact the way that you think. That is why you must surround yourself with people who lift you up, make you feel good, and inspire you to see the world through a positive lens. These are the people that you can reach out to when you need a good hug, or a pep talk to shift you back into a positive mental headspace.
Consume high-vibe content
When it comes to negative thoughts, make it less about kicking them out of your mind and more about crowding them out. Kicking out the mental chatter can feel hard. But, crowding it out by consuming positive, personal development content is much easier. This can include reading books, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, listening to audiobooks, or taking digital courses. Don’t underestimate the power of a motivational message to shift your mindset to a positive place.
Feel the feelings
Lastly, shifting to a positive mindset isn’t always the best thing right off the bat. When there is a lot of emotion involved, the best thing to do is allow yourself to feel it. You do yourself a disservice by bypassing your feelings and going straight to a positive affirmation. In other words, you have to feel it first in order to heal it. So have a good cry if you need to. Talk to a friend or a therapist. Once you’ve allowed yourself to process the emotions, then shifting to a positive mindset becomes more natural and organic rather than fake or forced.