After the positive feedback I received from my last post I have decided to focus this post on positivity. You do not need to be living with Chronic Illness to need the power of positivity in your life. Whether you are unhappy in your job, relationships or home, the power of that unhappiness can have many unwanted side effects. It slowly invades every area of your life and once it has a hold it can be really hard to shake it. Living a life with a positive outlook may come naturally to some but it can also be learnt. You can choose happiness and positivity. While low levels of life satisfaction have been linked with mortality, positive emotions have been found to lead to quicker recovery from Illness and Injury, a longer life and less chance of Disability and Chronic Illness. In people without health issues the benefits of positive emotions give people greater life satisfaction, making people happier, positive and healthy!
There are many ways to bring more positivity in your life. You can start with simple things like surrounding yourself with positive people. Negative people bring you down to their level. I learnt this the hard way. I had to remove people from my life that only wanted to dump on me when they need to but were never there when I needed help. It is a painful process but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Another thing to do is to take 30 minutes in a day to do something that makes you feel really happy. Not just OK but so happy you get a lovely little flutter in your heart. Things I like to do are make my environment nice and comfortable. I like to make myself feel good by dressing up, putting on some make up, pampering myself. I understand that some days you don’t have time to pamper yourself so it is important to make the effort to find joy in the small things. Buy yourself an beautiful mug to have your tea or coffee in at work. Every time you use it will bring you help keep you positive. Same goes with nice pens, papers, etc. These things give you a positivity boost when you are susceptible to unhappy feelings. A couple of other things to do include:
- Make a list of things that bring unhappiness into your life and then aim to deal with each item on that list. Sometimes it may only need a minor change but you need to give yourself permission to do it. You need to consciously decide to choose a more positive life.
- List some of the joys in your life – aim for a least one a day to start with. Each week go back over the positive items for the week to reinforce the presence of positivity in your daily life.
- Use the art of mindfulness. A type of meditation, it teaches people to take pleasure in the simple things in life – for example, the smell of a nice cup of coffee, the sunshine on your neck, the smile of a stranger.
- Set yourself realistic goals and expectations for your life. And then go about achieving them. It is easier to be positive with a couple of wins under your belt and they do not have to be big. A small win is still a win!
It is no secret that positivity and happiness go hand in hand. I know that it can be hard to remain positive when chaos erupts around you, everyone is angry at you, your unhappy at work or you have another health complication pop up but that is when you have to practice “simple positivity”. Start with the small details in your life – finding these will have a snowball effect. Everyone has to start at the beginning but it really is possible to live positively….. just start small and surround yourself with positives.
All the best, Lily
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Not really a comment Lil but “Possivity” has never been my strong point with me. I’ll email u a quote i just read that’s pulled me up a bit lately.