I have already been grooving on my new year’s ambitions and goals! Nothing like a fresh start, right!?
Well, along the way I have found one thing that, when employed, make my goals my reality far faster and more permanent. I have shared my magic elixir below…but it takes work. Just like mom said “anything worth while does.” I want to encourage everyone to spend MORE time working on the inside of themselves this year than ever before.
I am talking about emotional health. Healthy mindset. POSITIVE mindset. The Positive Psychology Program gives us a little more insight to what a positive mindset is and how it works. I have shared a bit below:
What is a Positive Mindset and Attitude? A Definition
You probably have an idea of what a positive mindset or positive attitude is already, but it’s always helpful to start with a definition.
This definition from Remez Sasson (n.d.) is a good general description:
“Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of life and expects positive results.”
Another, more comprehensive definition comes from Kendra Cherry at Very Well Mind (2017B):
“[P]ositive thinking actually means approaching life’s challenges with a positive outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light.”
We can extrapolate from these definitions and come up with a good description of positive mindset as the tendency to focus on the bright side, expect positive results, and approach challenges with a positive outlook. Having a positive mindset means making positive thinking a habit, continually searching for the silver lining and making the best out of any situation you find yourself in.
Characteristics and Traits of a Positive Mindset: 6 Examples
So, now we know what a positive mindset is, we can dive into the next important question: What does it look like?
There are many traits and characteristics associated with a positive mindset, including:
- Optimism: a willingness to make an effort and take a chance instead of assuming your efforts won’t pay off.
- Acceptance: acknowledging that things don’t always turn out how you want them to, but learning from your mistakes.
- Resilience: bouncing back from adversity, disappointment, and failure instead of giving up.
- Gratitude: actively, continuously appreciating the good things in your life (Blank, 2017).
- Consciousness/Mindfulness: dedicating the mind to conscious awareness and enhancing the ability to focus.
- Integrity: the trait of being honorable, righteous, and straightforward, instead of deceitful and self-serving (Power of Positivity, n.d.).
Not only are these characteristics of a positive mindset, they may also work in the other direction—actively adopting optimism, acceptance, resilience, gratitude, mindfulness, and integrity in your life will help you develop and maintain a positive mindset.
A List of Positive Attitudes
If you found the list above still too vague, there are many more specific examples of a positive attitude in action.
For example, positive attitudes can include:
- It is looking adversity in the eye… and laughing.
- Getting what you get, and not pitching a fit.
- Enjoying the unexpected, even when it’s not what you wanted originally.
- Motivating those around you with a positive word.
- Using the power of a smile to reverse the tone of a situation.
- Being friendly to those you don’t know.
- It’s getting back up when you fall down. (No matter how many times you fall down.)
- Being a source of energy that lifts those around you.
- Understanding that relationships are more important than material things.
- Being happy even when you have little.
- Having a good time even when you are losing.
- Being happy for someone else’s success.
- Having a positive future vision, no matter how bad your current circumstances.
- Smiling.
- Paying a compliment, even to a total stranger.
- Tell someone you know that they did a great job. (And mean it.)
- Making someone’s day. (Not just a child’s… adult’s like to have their day be special, too!)
- It’s not complaining no matter how unfair things appear to be. (It is a waste of time… instead, do something!)
- Not letting other people’s negativity bring you down.
- Giving more than you expect to get in return.
- Being true to yourself… always (Jarrow, 2012).
Why is a Positive Attitude Considered the Key to Success?
Now we know a little bit more about what a positive mindset looks like, we can turn to one of the biggest questions of all: What’s the deal with having a positive attitude?
What is it about having a positive mindset that is so important, so impactful, so life-changing?
Well, the traits and characteristics listed above give us a hint; if you comb through the literature, you’ll see a plethora of benefits linked to optimism, resilience, and mindfulness. You’ll see that awareness and integrity are linked to better quality of life, and acceptance and gratitude can take you from the “okay life” to the “good life.”
The Importance of Developing the Right Thoughts
Developing a truly positive mindset and gaining these benefits is a function of the thoughts you cultivate.
Don’t worry—this piece isn’t about the kind of positive thinking that is all positive, all the time. We don’t claim that just “thinking happy thoughts” will bring you all the success you desire in life, and we certainly don’t believe that optimism is warranted in every situation, every minute of the day.
Developing the right thoughts is not about being constantly happy or cheerful, and it’s not about ignoring anything negative or unpleasant in your life. It’s about incorporating both the positive and negative into your perspective and choosing to still be generally optimistic.
It’s about acknowledging that you will not always be happy and learning to accept bad moods and difficult emotions when they come.
Above all, it’s about increasing your control over your own attitude in the face of whatever comes your way. You cannot control your mood, and you cannot always control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can choose how you handle them.
When you choose to give in to the negativity, pessimism, and doom-and-gloom view of the world, you are not only submitting to a loss of control and potentially wallowing in unhappiness—you are missing out on an important opportunity for growth and development.
According to positive psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, negative thinking, and negative emotions have their place: they allow you to sharpen your focus on dangers, threats, and vulnerabilities. This is vital for survival, although perhaps not as much as it was for our ancestors. On the other hand, positive thinking and positive emotions “broaden and build” our resources and skills, and open us up to possibilities (Fredrickson, 2004).
This article is very extensive and can be reviewed in it’s full length here at the Positive Psychology Program.
When you choose to give in to the negativity, pessimism, and doom-and-gloom view of the world, you are not only submitting to a loss of control and potentially wallowing in unhappiness—you are missing out on an important opportunity for growth and development.
Like Michelle Schroeder- Gardner over at Making Sense of Cents says,
” Be thankful for what you have.
The next time something negative is bringing you down, I suggest you try to remember all of the good things that you already have in your life. You already live a great life, and to live life to the fullest, you just need to remember that.
This is the power of positive thinking at its best.
You can be thankful for your family, friends, your job, a past experience, opportunities, and more.
Thinking about everything you are thankful for can make something negative seem very trivial. You may even laugh at yourself for being so negative!”
A positive mindset can change the ENTIRE fabric of your life. And everything else stems from it.
If you don’t like the results you are having in your life, try a positive mindset. Isn’t it time you think a new thought?!!