How to Take All of the Negatives and Frame Them Into Positives
You’ve heard it over and over again on the importance of being positive, thinking positively, and only engaging in positive actions. In this day and age, and everywhere you turn, being positive isn’t always a simple task. Because if it was everyone would do it.
Turn on the news and the first thing you will normally see is something negative. Head into work and a cynical coworker is already complaining about the morning they’ve had or your manager. Watch any debates and all of the coverage leading up to the 2020 elections while the only thing you can do (most of the time) is shake your head in disbelief while you watch the two potential candidates of this country go head-to-head.
Not to beat a dead horse, but the list goes on and on. The point is; negativity is all around us. No matter where you look, you will always find either a negative situation or a negative person. And what you’re looking for, most of the time, you will find it.
However, you don’t have to let what happens on the outside interfere with what happens with you internally. Take that with a grain of salt but I’d like to believe I’ve learned a few things now in therapy over the past couple of months.
Being positive each and every day is an inside job that consists of intentional effort even at times when you don’t feel like it. Take 2020 for example…
No, being positive won’t guarantee that you will be a success or achieve a major goal of yours overnight, but it will help you a whole lot more than what negativity will do for you. I can guarantee you that.
The importance of reducing negative emotions is this: Take responsibility for yourself, your reactions, and your situation. The following are eight things I’ve found, and researched, that have helped me and countless others.
1. Make the right choices.
All of our lives consist of choices. In order to be incredibly successful, stay positive, and reach your full potential, it all starts with a firm choice to do just that. You can listen to the skeptics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can trust that with belief and an optimistic attitude all things are possible when you’re willing to put in the work.
2. Talk to yourself as a winner.
I have been speaking about the power of talking to yourself for quite a while now. Talk to yourself instead of listening to yourself. Instead of listening to your complaints, fears, and doubts, talk to yourself and feed your mind with words of truth and encouragement you need to keep moving forward.
3. Be intentional with who you spend your time and energy with.
Association is everything. It’s an absolute must that you have zero tolerance for negative people. You will become the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. Gandhi once said,
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
4. Live your purpose.
Nothing helps you to come more alive and radiate positive energy like living out your purpose and striving towards your life passions. I believe Simon Sinek said something along the lines of, “Remember why you do what you do. We don’t get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it.”
5. Change your perception of adversity and failure.
Be able to redefine what failure really means and learn how to capitalize on each and every setback. The next time you ‘fail’ remember that you aren’t failing, you are learning. You aren’t failing, you are growing.
6. Smile and laugh more often.
Fun and excitement are contagious. These are very simple things to do, but so many forget the power of just smiling and laughing more. That in turn is why some people resort to not doing these simple things. Smile and laugh more. They are natural anti-depressants from what I’ve found and experienced.
7. Protect your inner world.
It’s important to remember that regardless of how bad or negative a certain situation may be that you don’t have to let it dictate your level of happiness or positivity. Remember, outside circumstances and events have no power over you. You create your world and peacefulness from the inside-out. As mentioned before, it’s an inside job for your mental and physical health.
8. Patience.
A great majority of the negativity that holds many people back is a major lack of patience. Greatness takes an extraordinary amount of time putting in the work behind closed doors before anything blossoms. Most of the time no one knows what you’re going through or experiencing. This is why it’s so important to empathize with and try to understand where individuals are coming from. There’s no such thing as an overnight success. Anything worthwhile takes time to build.
My Very Best,
Donovan E. Vogel
