16 Simple Ways to Start Thinking Positive​

When you think positive you just can’t help but be optimistic, even when everyone around you is miserable. As a result, you are happier and more satisfied with your life. The benefits of positive thinking are vast. So how do you get your stubborn brain to start thinking positive? ​

It might seem silly, but if you’re new to positive thinking, it can help to memorize positive words. This act of memorizing positive words forces your brain to activate the regions of your brain associated with these words (i.e., the positive brain regions). When any region of the brain is activated, it gets stronger. So memorizing positive words can make positive concepts, memories, and ideas more accessible and easily activated in your brain. So when you try to think positive about something in your real life, your brain will likely have an easier time.

Not sure which words are positive? Psychologists have painstakingly measured the emotional content of thousands of words to determine how positive and negative they are. You can do some googling to create your own list or use our positive word flashcard book. 

There are lots of fun ways to build strong positive neural networks using positive words. For example, you could memorize five positive words and set an alarm that reminds you to recall these words, in reverse order, later that evening.

Or, you could print out positive words on strips of paper (or use the flashcard book), cut each word into 2 pieces, shuffle them all together and then match them back up. For example, the word “laughter” would be cut into “laug” and “hter”. To match the word pieces, your brain has to not only retrieve the word laughter, but it also has to search through lots of other positive information to find the word it’s looking for. 

If you’re struggling to think positive, these positive memory activities are a great place to start because they are easy, fun, simple, fast, and they can help develop your brain in ways that may make it easier to think positive in other ways.

​How does it work? Well, it turns out that when we imagine things, the brain attempts to simulate the responses that would occur if these situations were actually happening in our real lives. This is the neural process that enables us to better understand ourselves and others because it enables us to play out situations in our mind to see how these situations might feel. And by doing so, we experience thoughts and emotions similar to those that would occur if whatever we are imagining were actually happening in real life.

This neural process can be horrible to us if we’re always imagining the worst possible outcomes. Luckily, you can turn this process around to increase positive emotions—by imagining all the positive things that may happen in your future.

In one study, participants used this technique for 14 days in a row, imagining four positive things that could actually happen to them the next day, such as eating a tasty meal or getting hired for a job. At the end of the study, this group showed an increase in happiness, while groups who imagined negative or routine future events did not.

When you imagine you finally start that mission-driven business you’ve been dreaming of or you visualize getting that amazing date you are dreaming of, you are essentially telling your brain to respond as if those things were happening. You create positive emotions out of thin air.

Too often we let the good moments pass without savoring and fully enjoying them. Maybe your friend gives you a small gift, a colleague makes you laugh, or a rainbow stretches across the sky. These are just moments, and we could let the brief positive emotions that arise fade away just as quickly as the arose. Or we could savor them.

When we learn to savor our moments, we attempt to fully feel, enjoy, and extend our positive experiences. Savoring is a great way to develop a long-lasting stream of positive thoughts and positive emotions because positive events are sometimes infrequent.

“Tell it” by talking to someone about why you’re happy. You might call a friend to talk about what you’re feeling. Others tend to respond well to expressions of positive emotions (as long as you’re not bragging), which can further generate more positive emotions for you.

“Share it” by sending a text or message to a friend. If there is something you are feeling great about, particularly something you think would make others feel great too, share it far and wide. Just be careful not to post things that might make other people feel worse (like if you got something that someone else wanted).

You have to practice regularly directing your attention to positive information and stop focusing so much on the negative. That doesn’t mean the negative will go away, but it wont bother you so much.

Another idea is to collect one image per day of something positive that makes you feel good. I recently discovered the app, 1 Second Everyday, which stitches snippets from your life into a personal movie. Use this app or just your cellphone camera to keep track of the good things.

Of course, thinking positive has many benefits for your mental health and well-being. But thinking positive isn’t always the best response. Negative thoughts sometimes have benefits too.

When we are sad or grieving, thinking negative thoughts and showing negative emotions helps us communicate to others that we need their support. When we get angry, our thoughts can help motivate us to take action and make necessary changes in our lives. Casually pushing negative emotions aside without seriously considering what they are trying to tell us can have real consequences.

So when you focus on the negative, ask yourself: is this negative emotion resulting in action that improves your life? If so, then keep it. If not, then work on focusing on the positive.

I’ll be the first to admit that there are a lot of things to be angry, sad, or anxious about. But the truth is that there is also an infinite number of things to feel passionate, joyful, and excited about. It’s up to us to decide which things, the positive or the negative, we want to focus on. 

One way to train your brain to focus more on the positive things in life is to practice gratitude. Gratitude is when we feel or express thankfulness for the people, things, and experiences we have. When we express gratitude at work, we can more easily gain the respect and camaraderie of those we work with. When we are grateful for our partners or friends, they are more happy with us. When we are grateful for the little things in our day-to-day lives, we find more meaning and satisfaction in our lives.

One of the easiest ways to practice gratitude is by writing a list of all the things you are grateful for. Try to think of as many things, people, places, etc., as you can. (e.g., Your family, yummy ice cream, rainbows, puppies, etc. 

Or you could write down three good things a few days per week. At the end of the week, review your list to remind yourself that you have a lot to be grateful for.

To take your gratitude practice up a notch, you could send a gratitude letter or message to someone who you never properly thanked. Your letter could be about anything. Maybe you want to thank a friend for always being there for you. Or maybe you want to thank your romantic partner for a very specific experience, like a date. In your letter share your positive thoughts. Try to be specific and note why you value the other person, going beyond just the positive ways he or she makes you feel. 

If this seems too intense, you can share your gratitude in smaller ways. Write out a few sticky notes to people who you are grateful for. Include one to two things you appreciate about them and stick the note on their desk, car, or bag. Or practice gratitude on social media by writing short positive messages to the people you feel most grateful for.

Perhaps you’re not the list-writing type. That’s okay. Take a moment to think of some of the people or things you are most grateful for. Then create a drawing that includes all these positive things. It doesn’t need to be a good drawing. All you are doing is helping your brain recognize the positive things in your life. But if you like your drawing, put it up on the fridge to remind you of what you’re grateful for and to keep the positive thoughts flowing.

The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotion suggests that experiencing positive emotions builds our psychological, intellectual, and social resources, allowing us to benefit more from our experiences. So how do we infuse our lives with small bursts of positive emotion?

One way is to watch positive or fun videos.