How to achieve a positive attitude
Mounting evidence from medical studies has indicated that people who think positively have a lower risk of dying of all causes compared with others their own age who have a gloomier view of life. Over the last decade, researchers have identified practices that can help you achieve and sustain a positive attitude toward your future. Many of them are explained in the Harvard Special Health Report Positive Psychology. Here are a few suggestions:
Savor pleasure. Feeling pleasure helps sustain a positive attitude. Focus your attention on something pleasing as it occurs, consciously enjoying the experience as it unfolds. Most people are primed to experience pleasure in special moments, such as a wedding day or a vacation. Everyday pleasures, on the other hand, can slip by without much notice unless they disappear or seem threatened. Slow down and focus. You will enjoy things more, whether a meal or a visit with a friend.
Practice gratitude. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what you receive, whether tangible or intangible. Try keeping a gratitude journal, in which you regularly write down things for which you are grateful. Doing so will help you go through your days with greater appreciation, taking fewer blessings for granted. As you write, be specific and try to relive the sensations you felt as you remember what each thing means to you.
Cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness is generally acquired by training the mind to focus its attention on the present moment in a systematic way, accepting whatever arises. While savoring involves appreciating pleasurable sensations, mindfulness involves opening fully to both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Being mindful helps you become fully engaged in activities and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events. By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.