How Negative Thinkers Can Train Themselves to Stop Being Grumps

Too often we hear how too much stress is bad for the body. Emotional stress that stays around for weeks or even months can weaken the immune system and cause high blood pressure, depression, fatigue, anxiety and even heart disease. And positive thinking has a ton of benefits, from boosting your health to expanding your creativity to boosting your health, but if you're the type of person is has a negative outlook, it can be hard to look at life in a positive light. There are ways, however, that you can retrain your brain to become a more positive thinker and look at life a bit differently. Just like any new life skill, learning to become a positive person takes a bit of practice and effort. You are not going to transform into a person who always sees the best in everything overnight, but you can focus your efforts on a couple of things to have a more positive outlook. The following things are just some of the ways you can try and change into more positive ways of thinking and living.

Do something new or nice for someone else. When we help others, even for a stranger, it feels good. Open the door for a person behind you, offer directions for someone who looks a bit lost.

Celebrate new small victories. Look for the little joys in life or wins in your day-to-day life. Something as little as the sun shining in the morning, or fixing a leaking tap is a way to start the day feeling new and refreshed.

Practice compassion meditation. This type of meditation can help your overall health. Meditation can help to rewire your brain to make positive connections, impact your social relationships and help to strengthen your heart. Even just a few minutes of meditation a day can make a difference in your life.

Always be kind to yourself. Negative thoughts about your perceived failures or insecurities can be tough to deal with, so make a new effort to be kind to yourself instead of being negative to yourself over a mistake. Think about positive things you are good at or things you do well.

Your new overall goal is to become more positive, and that doesn't necessarily mean you have to see the silver lining in every situation, especially if that's just not your personality. But you can take small steps towards being a bit more positive, which will lead you to enjoy life a bit more each day. Meditate or do some yoga. One of the first things you can try is to be good to yourself with these helpful practices. Meditation is a chance to focus away from your negative thoughts and pay attention to your breath. Yoga is very relaxing and can help to ease your mind. Yoga helps you stay present to your experience. Another simple new thing you can try and do more often is to smile. Be mindful of this even if it means standing in front of the mirror and making a practice of forcing yourself to smile. It might sound a bit silly, but when you are more conscious of it, you might try and do it a little bit more. Smiling does help to change your mood and relieve stress. You may also feel lighter because it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. Surround yourself with positive people. Call a friend that might give you constructive yet loving feedback. This new trending news is just one of the stories you will find on the Life Hacker site. On the site, you will find this and other new trending news, along with trending videos, gear and more. **