6 Ways on How To Focus on The Good Things In Life

Have you ever heard the old adage “what consumes your mind controls your life”? True enough, the thoughts that pass through your mind every day can greatly influence the way you live your live.

A person who may seem blessed by a lot of people can still feel miserable because of the negativity of his own thoughts. Alternatively, someone can still be full of love and happiness even through all the hardships they may be facing.

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It’s only a matter of being able to think positively, despite everything they may be struggling with.

There’s something truly admirable about people who see the silver lining in every dark cloud.

Perhaps you know of someone who always carries a smile on their face through any challenge – no matter how big or taxing the challenges may be. You wonder how they can still manage to do so, especially in today’s society, which isn’t as kind and generous as it used to be.

It’s easy to be blinded by our problems and our pain, so much so that it becomes impossible just to focus on the good things in life. But seeing the good even in the smallest things can dramatically change the way we perceive ourselves and our environment.

If you’re having a difficult time seeing the good in things and in the people around you, perhaps realizing the advantages of the positives in your life can help motivate you further.

You might be wondering why it’s essential for you to focus on the good things in life. After all, it’s way easier to feel miserable in an already depressing world – so why put in the extra effort?

How Positive Thinking Can Change Your Life

Happiness

The most obvious advantage of positive thinking is happiness. Good things put a smile on our face, no matter how small they are.

A lot of people chase after many things such as money, careers, prestige, and fame. But all of them are in search of the same thing: happiness.

Many of us tend to believe that our joy can only be attained after we’ve gotten those things which we yearn for.

But actually, one can already be happy just by changing the way they perceive life.

If you see everything in a positive light, you may find more reasons to be happy and smiling all day. But if all you see is anger and hatred, the more you will be buried by misery.

The sad part is that oftentimes, we are the sole creators of such miseries. By focusing on the good things in life, you will begin to see the world in a different way.

Gratitude

Focusing on the good things isn’t just a great way to find joy in our lives, it also sheds light on the blessings  we are already have.

When we are filled with negativity, it’s hard to feel abundant and privileged. In fact, we tend to think that everything seems to be lacking – we need more money, more time, more space. In reality, most of us have more than enough to be thankful for.

The problem is that we often let our negativity steal away our feeling of content.

We may feel envious over the possessions of other people, which could also lead to greed. But as soon as we see how much good there is in our current lives, we begin to feel more grateful for everything around us.

Our negativity often blocks our view of the bigger picture – all we see is what we want.

But if we take a closer look at everything around us, we will realize that not everyone is as blessed as we are. And therefore, we should practice gratitude in our daily lives.

Better Health

When we are happy and grateful, better health is almost a guaranteed result. This is because there is less stress and anxiety occurring in our lives. In fact, there are many medical professionals who claim that happier people are more likely to live a healthier lifestyle.

Can you imagine being able to improve yourself simply by learning how to focus on the good things in life?

There’s also a popular topic that says people who are happier also live longer. A study shows that older people have a 35% chance of living longer if they are feeling positive and energetic. This just goes to show that once we start to see the good in things, we can also attract other positive things into our life.

Higher Tolerance

Everybody has bad days once in a while, the only difference is how each of us deals with them.

While others dwell in their anger and pain, there are also some who can easily get back on their feet and move on to the next step. The latter are most likely people who are confident and positive towards achieving success.

When we learn to focus on the good things, we are also training ourselves to become stronger when bad days come our way.

These good things serve as a source of motivation and energy for us to keep moving forward no matter how tired we are or how difficult it may seem.

Self-Esteem

Good things don’t always refer to our possessions – they can also refer to our physical attributes, background, personality, character and even our beliefs.

Everybody is unique and special in their own way. Sadly, most of us only see flaws and weaknesses – not only in other people but most especially in ourselves.

When we focus on the good, it isn’t always about looking out far and wide. Sometimes, all it takes is a good look inward; maybe there is something about ourselves that we have yet to discover.

It may be wise to also truly look at the people around us. Often, we only see the outer appearance of someone and pay little to no attention to who they really are. It’s time we see people through their hearts and truly get to know them on a deeper level.

Stronger Relationships

With all things above combined, we are then ready to form stronger and deeper relationships with ourselves and with other people as well.

However, our negative thoughts create a lot of barriers.

We may regularly have the wrong ideas of others and we let our thoughts influence the way we live our own life. And because of thoughts and misinterpretations, we have built high walls and isolated ourselves from our communities.

If we could just look and focus on the good things, we would be able to gather more courage to make meaningful connections with others.

So now that you know what’s at stake if we do not learn how to focus on the good things, let’s dive right into how you can start changing this habit of negative thinking.

Below are some ways you can begin focusing on the brighter side of life.

6 Ways on How To Focus on The Good Things

1. Avoid Negativity

This is probably the most obvious tip of them all. In order to start looking for the good, you need to first get rid of any negative thoughts or impressions you may have.

Of course, this is not an easy feat, especially if you are used to only seeing things from a darker perspective.

It’s time to look at what contributes to these kinds of thoughts.

Perhaps you are constantly listening to the complaints of a friend or maybe you only hear bad news from all around you. Negativity can be very overwhelming and oftentimes, it may be difficult to avoid.

For every bad news that you receive, try to think of something good that happened that day. This way, you know that even though there are bad days, there will also be good ones along the way.

2. Know What Makes You Happy

There are some things that make us smile, but there are also some that truly touch our hearts.

Identify the things that move and inspire you every time you face a difficult challenge; think about those things which you love. It can be a source of fighting power, especially on days when we feel like giving up.

Frequently, we may not know what makes us happy.

This is because we have allowed ourselves to be exposed to so much negativity over a long period of time. Do something new and be spontaneous; try to get to know yourself all over again and see what puts a smile on your face.

And once you find it, you may want to constantly expose yourself to those things from then on to create and maintain happiness in your life.

3. Mindfulness Meditation

We’ve said it a million times but there really is nothing as beneficial as mindfulness meditation.

When we meditate, we are giving ourselves back some headspace. Every day, our minds are cluttered with many different thoughts and most of them may even be negative ideas.

Through meditation, we can organize these thoughts and let go of the ones that do us no good. By doing so, we have more available space in our mind and spirit for the things that matter more.

During a meditation session, we can also focus on ourselves a lot more.

We are able to listen in on our own thoughts and perhaps we will realize just how much negativity they contain.

By learning how our minds think, we can perhaps find more ways on how to train ourselves better to focus on the good.

4. Change Your Perspective

If you’ve always been complaining about all the bad things happening to you, it is time for a change of perspective.

A person who has lost a job may begin to think that it’s the end of the world. But if he changes the way he thinks, he might begin to believe that it is a chance for him to find a better career path.

Each of us has problems to deal with every single day. But it doesn’t mean that we always have to suffer from them.

It may not be easy at first to think positively, especially when things don’t go your way. But perhaps it is time that we learn to trust ourselves that everything will be alright as long as we keep moving forward.

5. Keep A Gratitude Journal

Sometimes we just don’t see how abundant the good things in life are. By keeping track of them in a journal, we can prove it to ourselves that there are still a lot of reasons to be happy.

When we are faced with a difficult situation, it is very easy for us to count all the misfortunes we have in our life.

But in reality, there is also an equal or perhaps a bigger number of blessings in our lives as well. We just don’t realize how many blessings we have at the moment, when we’re most emotional.

To keep a gratitude journal, all you need is a notebook and a pen. As the days pass by, write down at least one good thing that happened to you  each day.

When you keep this habit up for a year, you will then realize that there are 365 good things in the world.

6. Learn to Let Go

The way we think is more often than not formed by our past experiences. If our past is full of pain and hatred, our present and future will also have the same dark outlook if we do not learn how to let them go.

If you are truly having a difficult time seeing the good in others, it could mean that you are still angry, or you may be grieving about something in your past.

Before you can move forward, you may want to address these feelings that have been bottled up inside of you for a long time. Be courageous and allow yourself to feel those emotions.

It is only through the confrontation of such feelings that you can finally resolve them. Once you have learned to let go, it will be easier for you to focus on the good.

Conclusion