TheRyanStevens

5 Steps to a Happy Life with Positive Attitude

Step 1:
Believe Happiness is a Choice
For me, this was a hard one at first and thought happiness depended on the events in my life and not on me and my attitude and that’s honestly what it all depends on. I thought that people were either unhappy or happy (and I was one of the unhappy ones). I used to blame this on all kinds of outside forces –- fate, experiences, parents, relationships….. but never really stopped to think that I could choose to be happy and make happiness out of anything and everything life threw at me.
Sure, this isn’t always easy and let’s be honest change is hard and sometimes it sucks, but it is always, always an option. Teaching myself to see that happiness is a choice has been one of the greatest things I’ve ever done for myself and it improves the happiness of your life continuously and is something you always have to work and try at!!!
Now when I find myself in a bad situation, I know that it’s up to me to find the good, to be happy regardless of what’s happening around me. I am no longer pointing fingers, placing blame, it’s me and only me that can choose and bring happiness into my life. I realize that everything happens how it happens, and it’s up to me to choose how I want to feel about it. I am in control of my happiness level and no one can take that away from me. My happiness depends on me, and not only my thoughts and situations but at the way I look at life in general.

Step 2:
Rid Your Life of Negativity
If you want to live a positive, joyful and happy life, you cannot…..absolutely “CANNOT” be surrounded by negative people who are not encouraging you to be a positive happy person this is key.. I myself was a pretty negative person, I tended to attract other negative people, negativity attracts negativity and happiness attracts happiness it’s truly that easy and that simple, in honesty life is simply and what you make of it.
When I decided to make the change to live a more positive life, I had to rid my life of all of the negative people, and all the negative things in my life. This, as you can imagine, wasn’t easy but it’s necessary and apart of the process of achieving happiness. Getting rid of people hurts….. even when you know they aren’t good for you or your current lifestyle. Not only did I have to get rid of the negative people, but I also had to get rid of the negative things too, the negative things are just as important as the negative people and a huge part of the happiness process, this is truly a necessity . I had to stop doing certain things that were causing negativity in my life, and I really had to focus and encourage the positive things to happen. I had to take a step back and examine which behaviors were good for me and which were not. I learned to focus on the positive things I was doing and let go of the negative ones, this process is honestly fairly easy if you look at it fairly and realize that it’s a tough process. This process was not easy, and to be honest, is still going on each and everyday, but do know having negativity in your life prevents you from living a positive existence.

Step 3:
Look For the Positive in Life
There is a positive aspect in everything. In every person, in every situation, there is something good and something bad and it’s important you distinguish the two and focus on the happy things. Most of the time it’s not all that obvious. We have to look deep, be honest and dig deep and discover more about ourselves. And sometimes we have to look hard. The old me just sat back and allowed things to happen by default, instead of focusing on happiness and promoting it in each and everything I do. If I saw negative, I went with that feeling. I didn’t want to look harder or think too much about the good. I found it much, much easier to sit back and just accept what I saw (which was usually the bad).
Now, when I’m faced with a difficult or challenging situation, I think to myself, “What is good about this?” No matter how terrible the situation might seem, I always can find something good if I take the time to think about it.
Everything in life… good and bad is a learning experience. So, at the very least, you can learn from bad experiences. However, there’s usually even more to it than that. If you really take the time to look, you will usually find something good, something really positive, about every person or situation you encounter in life.

Step 4:
Reinforce Positivity in Yourself…..Once I started thinking more positively and adapted to a more positive form of thinking, I started thinking more positively and adapted to a more positive attitude and a more positive lifestyle, I realized I had to reinforce these thoughts and behaviors in myself so they would stick. As with any sort of training, practice makes perfect, and, yes, you can practice being positive.
The best and easiest way to do this is to be positive when it comes to who you are. Tell yourself you’re awesome. Tell yourself you look good. Tell yourself that you love and accept yourself completely. Tell yourself you did an awesome job at work or raising your kids or whatever it is you do.
Be honest with yourself, but do your best to look for the good. And, whatever you do, don’t focus on the negative. Nothing good can come of telling yourself that your butt’s too big or your latest career goal wasn’t met.
It’s okay to not like everything about yourself (yet), but don’t spend energy dwelling on the negative. Remind yourself of the good in you. We all have positive attributes and it’s up to you to remind yourself of them every day.

Step 5: Share Happiness with Others
Not only do you need to be positive with yourself for this new positive attitude to really take effect, you also need to be positive with others. You have to share your wealth of positivity with the world.
The best way I’ve found to do this is quite simple and basic: be nice. Be nice to other people, no matter what. Tell someone he or she looks nice today. Tell someone they did a great job on that presentation. Tell your parents or children (or both!) how much you love them and how great they are.
When someone is feeling down, do what you can to cheer him or her up. Send flowers. Write notes. Don’t gossip. Be kind to all living things. All of these things sound basic enough, but, for someone like me, they didn’t used to come easily.
In the past, I didn’t wanted to see the good in myself and, therefore, didn’t want to see it in others either. I used to be critical and condescending. Now I strive to be encouraging and supportive. I try not only to treat others, as I would like to be treated, but also to consider how they would like to be treated.
People appreciate positivity and the more you are sharing it with others, the more you are practicing it and reinforcing it in your own life. Parting Words on the Positive Attitude Habit
When you start feeling like the idea of being a positive person is daunting, tell yourself this: “If someone who really used to struggle with a negative attitude, turned her life around with these five steps, then I can too!”
If anyone had told me a few years ago that I would be writing an article about developing a positive attitude and living a happy life, I would have laughed right in their face. I would have said, “Why in the world would someone want me to write about positivity?”
But here I am, writing this post, believing in these words, and knowing that every single day I am getting closer and closer to living the happy life I’ve secretly dreamed of living. If I can do it, you can do it. Believe in yourself and remember the most important lesson of all… a positive outlook is a choice. Choose to be positive. Choose to be happy. Life is short.