Positive thinking can help you manage everyday stress, mistakes, or unpleasant feedback, and promote your emotional wellbeing. Here are three techniques to help you cultivate positive thinking.

“Positive thinking requires our emotions and mental attitude to focus on the good stuff. It also anticipates how the good things in life will bring us happiness and fulfillment,” writes LaRae Quy, an author and mental toughness coach, in a recent SmartBrief article. “Positive thinking is not a naïve approach to life that refuses to examine the negative that shows up and hopes it magically goes away. Nor is it a cure-all that promises a life without problems. Instead, it’s the ability to look at every situation, both good and bad, without losing hope.”

She recommends several techniques to cultivate positive thinking:

• Make an intentional effort to overcome negativity bias. The human brain is naturally prone to pay extra attention to stressful environments and negative feedback. One way to overcome this natural inclination is to make an intentional effort to analyze situations differently or from a more neutral frame of mind. "Being aware that your mind seeks out the negative from your day will help you look at events with more clarity,” Quy clarifies.
• Divide your focus on both positive and negative aspects. Research shows that anxiety or negative responses can play an important role in driving us toward the action needed to resolve situations. The next time you’re faced with an anxiety-inducing situation, use that energy to spark action toward a resolution. “When we begin to understand and explore each emotion, we can understand the purpose behind it,” Quy explains. “When we do, we can respond in ways that promote our wellbeing.”
• Consider your mindset. It’s well known that outlook and perception can have a profound effect on how we communicate and make everyday decisions. In situations when we perceive colleagues as stern or difficult, try thinking through what your peers are going through or experiencing and adjust your mindset to acknowledge that a colleague’s response may be caused by an outside stressor. “By stacking up positive interpretations of your situation, you become the author of your own success story,” Quy adds.

For more insight, read Quy’s article, “Make the science of positive thinking work for you.”