How To Rewire Your Brain To Be More Positive

by Amber Kahwaji

It can be hard to maintain a positive outlook 100 percent of the time. There is a lot constantly surrounding us, whether it’s stuff going on in our personal lives or general social issues, everyday we are bombarded with negativity.

And when it’s constant, it can be easy to live in the negative rather than choosing to see the positive. In fact, our brains can actually learn to lean toward the negative, according to Entrepreneur.

We learn from life experiences, and if those experiences were bad or hurtful our brains learn to file away that occurrence in an attempt to keep it from happening again.

It’s the brain’s way of protecting you, and it’s what causes people to become cynical, not trust others, or proceed with caution when a circumstance comes up that mimics an already lived through bad occurrence.

The unfortunate thing is, in its attempt to shield itself from hurt, your brain actually will learn to focus more on the negative over the positive.

The good news is it’s possible to rewire the brain to be more positive and create a happier you. So, how do we rewire our brains? It’s actually pretty easy and straight forward.

When a negative thought pops into your head, redirect your train of thought to be positive. For example, Let’s say that job interview didn’t go exactly as planned. Before you let yourself start to be critical and doubt everything, remember you don’t know the outcome yet.

Just because it went differently than planned doesn’t mean it went badly. Steer yourself to look at the positives of the interview and the takeaway from the experience.

I have a horrible habit of analyzing auditions after they are done. Sometimes I look back and go over all the things I could have done differently, or the rookie mistake I made when I should know better by now.

But the funny thing is, sometimes those auditions that I thought I bombed were the ones that resulted in a booking.

I’ve gotten better about letting them go once I leave the room, and when I find myself going back to the negative thoughts I stop myself and think of what I did right in the room instead.