Ring in a Positive New Year
“The most important thing you will ever wear is your attitude.” – Jeff Moore
Each morning when we wake up, we have the opportunity to embrace a positive attitude. It is hard work to consciously control your thoughts, attitudes and actions despite outside forces or events. However, adopting a more positive mindset has great impacts on your mental and physical health.
As we bring this year to a close and prepare for the New Year ahead, embrace a more positive mindset by trying one or all of the below tips.
1. Reflect on the Positives
One of the quickest ways to thinking more positively is to actively reflect and take note of the positive influences, occurrences and emotions in your life. Believe it or not, the more you do this, the more natural this habit will become – its science! It can be beneficial to put pen to paper and record these positive occurrences, but if that doesn’t work for you, simply reflecting to yourself can be just as important. Take a moment to reflect on the following questions:
- Who are the positive influences in your life? How have they impacted you recently?
- What positive emotions have you experienced this week? What activities caused you to feel them?
- What brings you joy? How can you incorporate that into your life more?
- What are you grateful for?
- What are your biggest strengths?
2. Embrace a Growth Mindset
A growth mindset is one that views obstacles as opportunities. If you make a mistake or if you fail at something, reassure yourself that it is a lesson learned and an opportunity to improve. By viewing obstacles as opportunities, we can be gentler with ourselves and foster a better approach to tackling challenges.
3. Start Your Day with Positive Affirmations
A positive affirmation is a word or phrase that calls to action what you want to be or achieve. These are short, powerful and simple phrases that target the conscience level of your mind and help you overcome self-sabotaging thoughts. By putting these positive statements in your mind and words, you actively call on who you want to be and the life you want to live.
Here are some guides to wording your positive affirmations:
- Start with “I,” “my,” or an energetic word
- Make it present tense
- Insert your name
- Make it a positive, realistic statement
Here are some examples:
- I can do this!
- I am worthy and beyond adequate
- I am going to rock today’s presentation
- Just be you, (insert name)
4. Use Visualization and Mindfulness
Visualization is the practice of promoting a desired outcome through the subconscious mind. Mindfulness is bringing more attention to the present moment and fostering a greater awareness and appreciation to your feelings, thoughts and sensations. Both can aid in fostering a more positive mindset when used regularly. Below are a few techniques to try:
- Mental rehearsal technique – Close your eyes and rehearse the event in your mind. Imagine yourself going through the motions and executing it perfectly. If you’d like to facilitate a productive meeting or presentation, imagine yourself doing so with ease.
- Goal pictures – Create a photo of yourself achieving your goals as if it was already completed. Post that photo somewhere you will see it daily. If your dream is to go to Paris, Photoshop yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower!
- Mindful awareness – Cultivate a heightened awareness and appreciation of simple tasks or and the results they achieve by creating “touch points”. For example, think of things you may take for granted such as turning on your computer to begin work, opening the doorknob to your home or smelling a home-cooked meal. Stop and take a moment to acknowledge how lucky you are in that moment to have a job, a roof over your head or a meal to share with family.
- Mindful appreciation – Notice five things in your day that typically go unnoticed. The point of this exercise is to appreciate and give thanks for the seemingly insignificant things in life. For example, electricity powers your home, the postal worker delivers your mail and your clothes provide you warmth, but have you ever stopped to appreciate this?
5. Join the December Positivity Challenge
Work on all of these tips and more by signing up for our December Positivity Challenge. From December 1 until December 31, complete daily tasks to foster a more positive and grateful mindset. This challenge will help teach and encourage daily positive affirmations and self-reflections to build a happier and healthier mindset. What better way to finish the year and set the stage for 2021?
The beauty of your brain is the more you practice positivity, the more of an innate habit it will become. Use these tips to not only finish the year with a more positive mindset, but to ring in the New Year as your most positive self.
About the author
Ms. Megan Petriello is an Assistant Vice President, Assistant Team Leader and a Fitness and Wellness Specialist on the Slainte Fitness team at USLI. Ms. Petriello enjoys staying active by teaching HIIT classes, running and strength training. Ms. Petriello gets the most enjoyment from living an active lifestyle, and she is an avid believer in the power of positive thinking!