Emotions are very powerful forces in our lives and serve as guides for where our mental focus is at any given moment of the day. To experience a feeling of well-being, you need to find ways of bringing positive emotions and enjoyment into your daily routine.
Tip 1: Take the time to recognise situations that create specific emotions
By first recognising emotional triggers and identify the type of emotions you experience in specific situations, you can create a powerful strategy for avoiding negative emotional triggers and focus on positive ones.
Tip 2: Think positive thoughts
Positive thoughts evoke positive emotions. Experiencing positive emotions leads to more positive emotions and an even broader view of everything around you. Positive emotions open you up to possibilities and an increased ability to move forward and make smarter decisions. Don’t under-estimate the power of positive thinking.
Tip 3: Create positive triggers throughout your day
Identify a specific object and every time you touch it (for example your car keys) take a moment to think about something positive, such as everything you are grateful for in your life. It doesn’t matter what it is that you decide to use, or what positive emotion you will attach to that action. The important part is training yourself to do it every time that the specific physical object is used or touched by you.
Tip 4: Take a few minutes each day to relax
Many of us live very busy and stressful lives. Try to incorporate leisure activities in your daily routine. Relax with reading, listening to music, massaging or spending time with loved-ones to relieve stress. The primary positive emotion associated with relaxation is contentment. Contentment is particularly good for reversing negative emotions and building resilience to negative emotions.
Tip 5: Do something you enjoy
Take a moment to identify people, events or things that give you pleasure and make sure you make time to enjoy it. Share activities with other people. These things will make you feel good and let you forget about problems for a while. Everyone’s favourites will be different and unique.
Research suggests we need at least three positive emotions to one negative in order to function well within our individual lives and relationships. Although we can’t be happy all the time, we need to make sure that we often experience positive emotions such as love, pleasure, happiness, contentment, peace, joy and inspiration in order to live a happy and fulfilled life.
Sources
http://www.positivityblog.com/
http://www.mindtools.com/