Ahmed Shaami
Hopefulness is a good thing and it makes you live longer and a happier life. Living as an optimist, helps you to deal with unexpected change, crushing stress, and inevitable disappointments. Optimism helps you to believe in yourself, more committed to your goals, and more successful in achieving them. When compared to pessimistic people, optimistic people have better mental and physical health benefits. Research has shown that some people are optimistic by nature but there are ways that less optimistic people can apply in their life to become hopeful even if they are not feeling that way.
Following are the few ways that can help you cultivate optimism in your life:
Adopt a solution-focused thinking:
Obsessing over problems often brings negative feelings and increases your self-doubt. If you replace your problem-focused thinking to a solution-focused thinking, it will give you a sense of a forward movement. This is the foundation of optimism that you will lay for yourself and it will keep you hopeful no matter what circumstances you are in.
Create an imaginary movie:
You must know how you think about yourself and for that, you need to create an imaginary movie reel of your ideal life. It is important to include details regarding your looks, feelings, your actions, and your reactions. This will help you to keep your ideal image in mind when you are facing hard times. Practice this daily for 30-second and this simple mental training will actually boost your mood and transform you the way you think about yourself.
Look for improvements:
In order to practice optimism, you need to look for the improvements that have taken place in your life. In whatever situation you are, see what has changed for better. No matter the change is small, appreciate it and be thankful that it happened.
Minimize distractions:
For meeting your goals, you have to minimize distractions and let go of the unproductive habits. Find out ways to limit the temptations that take your focus away from your work. Don’t waste your time online during your working hours and put up the “I’m busy” status on your phone for not getting distracted by calls or messages.
Appreciate yourself:
You need to remind yourself that what acts of goodness you do each day. Don’t even ignore the smaller things that you did well and appreciate yourself for each. This simple habit will reinforce optimism on daily basis in your life.
Keep yourself healthy:
You can easily feel optimistically if you are physically and mentally fit. It is because food that you eat interferes with your ability to keep a good mood and high energy. Train yourself like an athlete and you will see the benefits in the form of optimal focus, better performance, and stay happier.
Be self-aware:
You need to be aware of your own self in order to become an optimistic person in life. For this purpose, recall a role model that inspires you. When faced with a daunting task, challenge yourself and remind yourself what that person would have asked you to do.
Optimism is an admirable quality which enables you tp make lemonade out of lemons and to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. Embrace this quality and it will positively affect your mental and physical health.
