Just like the old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" so goes this optimism technique. The negativity bias is our natural thought process to focus on the negative things in our lives. There is another saying that is very true, " You can do 100 things right, but screw it up just once and that's what you will be remembered for." This negative bias is neither bad nor good, it is how we regulate it that determines whether it helps or harms our success. Being able to focus on why something failed is what will enable us to make the necessary corrections, and move forward on the path to our desired goal. It is when all we can focus on is the failure or negative things in our life that we easily and quickly find ourselves stagnant and unable to improve even the simplest things in our lives. This can have a huge impact on our health and well-being, studies have shown (you can find these all over the internet) that excessive focus on the negative causes sleep problems, increased stress, anxiety, and greatly reduces your chances to improve your quality of life. Now I am not saying to go through life with "rose colored "glasses on. We must acknowledge the negative otherwise we would be fooling ourselves, but we must also acknowledge the positive things in our life. Here is a very effect technique that has helped me develop my optimism. Everyday identify three things that are positive about your life, write them down , and also write down a brief sentence on what it means to you. Now, these positives can be big, small, something you witnessed in someone else, or something you did for someone else. The KEY is to write them down and write down the reflection sentence, this will help the positive event and it's meaning resonate. For example; I had lunch with my daughter yesterday-positive event, it was really nice to spend time with her and discuss how college is going-reflection. Now having lunch with my daughter isn't HUGE but it was a positive event that meant something to me. I encourage you to try this it will improve your optimism and have a positive effect on your life.

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Thanks for reading my article, I hope it was helpful to you

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