It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a positive outlook on life can help overall health, both mentally and physically. But can you recognize negativity in all its forms? The most overlooked form of negativity is self-talk, which often manifests itself into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Start by identifying negative thinking. Common habits include:

1. Filtering
You’ll magnify negative aspects of a situation instead of recognizing, let alone focusing on, the positive ones.

2. Personalizing
You automatically blame yourself for bad situations.

3. Catastrophizing
You always anticipate the worst – when something “bad” happens, no matter how small, you assume the rest of the day will go poorly.

4. Polarizing
Everything is only good or bad, there’s no neutral ground.

Once you identify these habits (if they are present), you can focus on turning your thinking around to be more positive:

1. Keep yourself in check: stop and evaluate your thinking periodically. Start becoming more aware of how you speak to yourself and how you approach situations, so you can start to recognize these negative habits and begin to turn them around.

2. Identify the areas of your life you most think about in a negative light (your relationship? Your job? Your house?) then start small by focusing on one area you can approach in a more positive way.

3. Consider methods to manage stress: exercise, yoga, and meditation are excellent and natural ways to be healthier and more positive. They also release hormones that lift your mood, which makes it easier to stay positive.

4. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people.

5. Practice positive self-talk: don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to anyone else. Be gentle, encouraging, supportive, and loving to yourself. Consider how you treat the most special person in your life, and mimic those kind, loving gestures in your own self-talk.

When you adopt a positive state of mind and outlook on life, you’ll be better equipped to handle everyday stress and obstacles in healthier ways.