Living a happy life requires positivity and optimism. Since these three states and mindsets are closely linked, it is good practice to learn to stay positive even when things get rough. Quotes about optimism can help to inspire more positive thinking in the future. Because of this, it is a good idea to start your day with some positivity.
How to Become More Positive
Did you know you can actually boost your happiness by focusing on positive things? If you struggle with negative thinking, try following each negative thought that you have with a positive one. For people who are challenged by depression or intrusive thoughts, this can be difficult so don’t feel bad if you have to start small.
When a negative thought occurs, try to catch yourself before it gets out of hand and replace that negative thought with something positive. This can be something as little as thinking about cuddling your pet, or as big as something nice you did for someone. The important thing is to stop the cycle of negativity.
Believe it or not, our brains are pretty lazy. It likes patterns and the pattern that occurs the most often is the one your brain will automatically gravitate towards. So, if you are always negative, you’re more likely to continue being negative in the future because your brain is hardwired to the pattern. However, if you begin to interrupt that pattern with positivity, it decreases the likelihood that you will have negative thoughts. Here are a few quick steps you can take to become more happy, positive, and optimistic:
- Write down happy thoughts so you have a go-to list if you need it
- Stay conscientious of negative thoughts and feelings so you can shift to more positive thinking
- After you experience an unhappy thought or feeling, pull from your happy list to start retraining your mind
15 Quotes About Optimism
One way to come up with a list of happy things is to consume positive content. Reading quotes about optimism is vital to keeping you moving forward to more positive thinking. It gives you positive ammo when confronted with negativity. Hopefully, these quotes will help get you on track for more positive thinking.
- “Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” – Mary Lou Retton
2. “What is hope but a feeling of optimism, a thought that says things will improve, it won’t always be bleak, there’s a way to rise above the present circumstances. Hope is an internal awareness that you do not have to suffer forever and that somehow, somewhere there is a remedy for despair that you will come upon if you can only maintain this expectancy in your heart.” – Wayne W. Dyer
3. “Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.” – Nicholas M. Butler
4. “An optimist understands that life can be a bumpy road, but at least it is leading somewhere. They learn from mistakes and failures, and are not afraid to fail again.” – Harvey Mackay
5. “Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.” – Dalai Lama
6. “Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.” – Roy T. Bennett
7. “Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mahatma Gandhi
8. “Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.” – Christine Caine
9. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. “My optimism has helped me through some hard times. If you try to send out good things, good things come back to you.” – Jan Brett
11. “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.” – Noam Chomsky
12. “Optimism – the doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly.” – Ambrose Bierce
13. “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
14. “While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.” – Benjamin Franklin
15. “True hopefulness and optimism are what leads one to dare. It is also what lifts one back up to dare again after a failed attempt.” – Bibi Bourelly
“In the hour of adversity, be not without hope; for crystal rain falls from black clouds.” – Nizam
Pick one or a few of these quotes and keep them in mind throughout the day for a more positive and optimistic outlook. With practice, you too can be a happy ray that brightens the days of those around you.
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