The positive mental attitude is what makes the difference when it comes to enjoying the opportunities that life gives us. The fact is that there are people who, without knowing it, always focus on the bad, without realizing that the time they spend lamenting is something they self-sabotage.

In this article we will see several keys to have a positive mental attitude and to know how to value the possibility of focusing on the good things that existence offers us.

The importance of having a positive attitude

It’s true that the world is far from perfect. There’s a lot in it that needs to be fixed, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to be happy with what’s there .

It is clear that to feel good it is very important to have access to certain basic resources, but it is also true that, having the same things, there are big differences in the way people appreciate the good things that happen to them.

Part of happiness has to do with objective and material basic needs, while others are related to mentality, attention management and the frequency with which one has positive thoughts. Let’s see how we can contribute to having this more subjective and private part of well-being.

Several tips to enjoy a good mentality

Feel free to apply these keys to your daily life, adapting them to the characteristics of your habits and way of life.

1. Don’t confuse pessimism with realism

At times when we feel bad, we tend to see everything from a pessimistic point of view. In these moments, it is very common to believe that everything that makes us feel good is a deception , and that reality is characterized by pain and discomfort.

Clearly, this pessimism is a bias, a way of deforming the interpretation of what happens to us. That is why we must not fall into the trap of believing that happiness is an illusion.

2. Orient your thinking towards concrete objectives

If we draw up realistic plans whose results can be evaluated in the short term, we will have the possibility to be happy often .

But the best part of doing this is not based on those moments of enthusiasm and joy that occur when you reach a goal. The best thing is to have a motivational source .

3. Surround yourself with people with a positive attitude

The way of thinking and feeling is easily contagious. Therefore, it is worth having social circles in which optimism and a positive mental attitude prevail.
If we have stimuli that arouse joy, fun or optimism, it is easier for this way of thinking to come to life in oneself and to start reproducing it automatically, in an autonomous way.

4. Go for the long haul

In addition to always having small goals in mind, it is important to have a long-range goal. In this way, we have a general purpose that guides our actions and gives us the possibility to think about that better future we want to build.

It is true that part of the problems of sadness and psychological distress are due to not thinking about the here and now, but it is also true that if we set ourselves more ambitious goals, we will have a sense of progress that allows us to look forward to certain milestones.

5. Help others without expecting anything in return

Many people help others in the hope that they will do something very concrete for them to compensate. This kind of covert blackmail is totally damaging, for everyone. However, helping because of the pleasure it brings is something different.

The human being is empathetic , and therefore, seeing the relief and gratitude in others is a way to have many more reasons to smile.

6. Distance yourself from negative opinions

Negative opinions need not be misplaced simply because they do not give us reason to be happy. However, it is good to know how to distance ourselves from them, to put them in quarantine. Many of them are issued simply to hurt, or simply to express an attitude or defend one ideology by going against another.

Thus, we must stay with the possible informative value of this kind of messages , not focus only on how they make us feel. Seeing the context is important, so it is also important to value the possibility that the intention of the person expressing them is not to express themselves honestly. In case it is what you think, it is good to separate opinions from reasoning.

A Kinder Way of Looking at Life

In short, to have a more positive attitude it is important not to put obstacles in our way by letting hopelessness catch up with us and lead us to see things from a negative angle. In order to do this, we have to work on a daily basis towards clear and realistic objectives, and choose social environments that lead us to give the best of ourselves.