My personal fight to stay positive. (plus tips to stay happy and positive)

Divulging personal situations into a formal blog does not seem like a very professional move on my part, but I feel that in this case, it is necessary as this situation may not be exclusive to myself.

I am having a very hard time staying positive these days. My mind constantly wanders to negative thoughts. I feel as though certain events that are going on right now are playing a role in the development of these negative thoughts.

I have also find myself focusing on what other people are doing wrong as opposed to what I could be doing as a unique individual to make a situation better. As a result of this, I spend all my time focusing on the flaws of others, yet I fail to develop the fruits within myself. This does not seem to be a very practical approach to being a member of such a highly communicative generation such as this.

Personally, I think that I may know some solutions to these things that I have described above, however, I can not guarantee any one kind of result.

1. Turn off the television, or at least limit myself to PBS and the Discovery Channel.

I often find myself much happier when I am learning something new. I have recently committed to myself that I am only going to watch the Discovery Channel whenever I have a desire to watch television. This may be a bit extreme for some, but I would say that the less of the other channels that you end up watching, the more positive you will be.

2. Sleep. Get enough of it too.

I have found that I am much happier when I get at least 7 hours of sleep per night. For many people this number is unattainable, but I urge you as an average-joe guy to try and get as close to that number as possible. I have found sleep to clear my mind, relieve stress, and give me time to think about things that I would not normally think about during the daily routine.

3. Take a walk, get exercise, go outside, be around non-man-made things.

I have found that when I exercise and when I am outdoors that I am happier and I also am able to remain happier longer after I go back to a normal daily routine. I can not condone standing in the sun due to harmful radiation that it emits, however, I will suggest that you somehow try to be about or near sunlight for at least an hour every day. If you have ever stayed inside all day with a dim fluorescent bulb, you may realize what I am talking about when I say that the sun is really amazing in certain situations.

4. Do something for you local community or a nearby community in need.

I have found much happiness and positive energy when I do community service or when I do something for someone who is in need. Try to get out once in a while, maybe once a month or even more (or less) frequently and help either your local community or another community. In order to get connected with community service projects, try visiting your local state’s or city’s web page and see if there is something regarding volunteer work. If you can’t find anything that way, try to get in contact wity someone in the community who has lived in the community for a long time and see if they know any more than you know about where to find community service.

5. Say “Good Morning”, “Good Afternoon”, and “Good Evening” to as many people as you can.

I have found that I am happier when I express my everyday socially-proper feelings to others in public. Examples of this would be:

• saying good morning to the people on an elevator

• thanking people when they do something nice such as hold a door open for you

6. Body language. Watch the body language.

Even though I am not any kind of doctor or analyst of body language, I can say that people will interpret you very differently if you have a positive and friendly semi-smile on your face as you walk down the street than if you have a large scowl on your face. This is hard to remember to do since you may be used to how you actually express your body’s language during your daily routine. A good practice for this is to stand in front of a mirror with a straight face and smile interchangeably with the straight face. This will allow you to feel your face muscles and see your face at the same time…and most likely, you will recognize the comfortable position in which you position your face’s language and you will then be able to see how you typically express your body’s language during the day…and depending on the result of that, you can either work on making your body language happier and more open, or you can give yourself a pat on the back for already knowing proper body language. :)