How to feel positive and happy in the true sense? One way to control negative emotions and cultivate real positivity is to practice gratitude. Spend some time every day feeling grateful if you need positive affirmations when not feeling good enough. Another helpful tool is genuine curiosity. If you’re curious about the world around you, your culture and even who you are as a person, then you keep cultivating new interests and hobbies to expand your horizons. These pursuits can also be the answer to how to think positive when depressed. If you’re dealing with depression or anxiety, finding a hobby, a passion project or something larger than you as an individual can be a great anchor. Positivity is not always a positive thing. Yes, you read that read. When one person’s idea of what is positive and optimistic is forced, it can turn into toxic positivity. To understand the difference between the two, you need to know toxic positivity psychology and how it operates. Positivity is something that you choose for yourself. It comes from within. Toxic positivity, on the other hand, is forced. One of the classic toxic positivity examples is juxtaposing a positive mindset on someone else or yourself also. The key to break free from this cycle of toxic positivity is to be pragmatic, rational and reasonable, and accept that you don’t need to feel positive all the time. If you don’t, it’s not a sign that you’re bogged down or weak. Spending too much time on social media can induce anxiety. This pattern became more apparent than ever before when doomscrolling during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic began to take a toll on people’s mental health. A simple way to counter it is to take a break from social media and screen time every now and then. Step out and go for a good old-fashioned walk, listen to music, meet people face-to-face in a real-world setting and show someone how much you care about them. The warmth of relationships that makes us feel loved, secure, cherished cannot be felt through a screen. Should you put on a happy face in a public setting if you’re upset with your partner? This conundrum has affected us all at some point or the other. Smiling and pretending like it’s business as usual can be the hardest thing when you’re seething inside. The alternative – which is airing your dirty laundry in public – isn’t any more pleasant either. So what do you do? The best recourse for everyone involved is to not put yourself in a situation where you have to be an inauthentic version of yourself. I f you have been invited to a social event but a relationship argument or fight with your SO has left you in a headspace where you’re up for mingling and socializing, just politely say no. Why take on the stress that you may not be able to carry and put yourself in a situation that will only augment the negativity you’re feeling within?
