#229 Fostering Positivity

Life does not always go the way that we want it to. Sometimes, it can be an outright chore to foster positivity into our lives. Learning how to validate your emotions and seeing the value in every experience can truly lead to future success. A shift in mindset and a little persistence can help infuse your life with more positivity. In today’s episode, Leslie and Leslyn discuss how you can build and sustain a positive, glass half-full outlook on life. Leslie and Leslyn also suggest 9 ways that you can start fostering more positivity into your life!

In this episode, we discuss…

Show Intro [0:01]

Introductions—Positivity [0:12]

Start of the Podcast [0:39]

Let’s Try This Again [4:41]

Hope Beyond the Now [6:50]

Toxic Positivity [10:04]

Validating Negativity and Moving Forward [12:07]

Share and Touch Base with Us! [17:04]

9 Ways to Foster Positivity [17:28]

Focus on What Works [17:34]

Look for Solutions [18:55]

Starting the Day with Positive Affirmations [22:46]

Find Humor in Bad Situations [25:40]

Turning Failures into Lessons [26:31]

Transforming Negative Self Talk into Positive Self Talk [26:37]

Focus on the Present [27:12]

Find Positive Friends, Mentors, and Co-workers [27:17]

Engage in Activities that Foster Positive Thoughts [28:37]

Try This at Home [29:37]

Closing Thoughts [34:19]

Outro [38:02]

Episode Notes:

Life isn’t always easy sometimes it can be an outright job to foster positivity into a negative day. In today’s episode, Leslie and Leslyn share how you can build and sustain a positive outlook on life. The episode begins with Leslie sharing an experience of a day that she was feeling very negative and did not have her normal positive outlook. After recording the episode on Positivity, Leslie felt better and her outlook had changed but sadly the audio of the episode was not recorded. Leslyn shares that it is interesting to sit back and really think about it as being a good therapy session for Leslie something good came out of that time and energy even if that mean re-recording the episode. This brought new inspiration to the topic as Leslie and Leslyn agreed they needed to share this story as it will resonate with someone while discussing positivity.

Hope is something that is crucial in positivity as we hope that we are going to learn from our mistakes, that something isn’t going to happen again, or even hoping for beyond what is happening in this very moment. Leslyn shares that as a therapist, she talks about living in the present and how important it is to spend as much time in the present as you can. There has to be some elements of hope that the next time is going to be equal to or better than this or that we’re going to learn something new next time. We are built on hope. Our hope to grow up, fall in love, get a job, buy a house, and so much more.

The key is to find a balance between hoping for everything in the beyond and living in the moment. To foster positivity, it is super important to own and honor the negative for a period of time. This does not mean focus on the negativity, but instead acknowledging the negativity and validating that it happened. You cannot move on to positivity until you have grieved whatever has happened that was negative in your life. Validate the pain you feel and the problem at hand, and then hope for there to be some value in the experience.

If you want to start fostering positivity into your life, first and foremost you have to make sure that the majority of your attention is focused on what works. We all have things in our lives that work and do not work. Pay attention and consciously move towards the positivity, focus on the good. Just like a camera lens, adjust the focus so that you can clearly see. Focus your mindset on looking for solutions. Leslie shares a great example of this. If you lose your job that will hurt and be a negative experience. After validating the emotions surrounding the experience you can start to look at where you have potential for problem solving and what are the possibilities. Once you have considered all the possibilities, you can begin to assess the probabilities or likelihood of the rational ones. That hope will really bring you back to the positive side of things.

Leslyn believes that it is critical, especially for people living in toxic environments, to start the day with positive affirmations. Things like, I am powerful, I am calm, I am in control, I am good enough, and so on. Whatever you need to reenforce for yourself, affirmations can help retrain your mind. Affirmations can come in many ways a few popular ones being prayer, I am affirmations, and the loving kindness practice. It’s also important to find the humor in bad situations. At the end of the day, there are funny things in bad situations, and this can help lighten the negativity surrounding the situation.

Turning your failures into lessons while also focusing on the present can help you balance your life by adding hope for your future. Another way to increase the positivity in your life is to transform negative self-talk into positive self-talk. This is something that Leslie and Leslyn cover in many episodes and can be one of the single biggest contributors to negativity in your life. While changing your mindset surrounding negativity, you must also evaluate your physical surroundings.

Find friends, mentors, and co-workers that will help maintain a positive space for you. It’s like swimming in a pool, if you are swimming in a pool that is toxic, you are going to get sick. If your environment is nothing but toxicity, maintaining a healthy and positive outlook is going to be next to impossible. Find some positive space in your world where you can be surrounded by positive people. The last way, and Leslyn’s favorite, to foster positivity is to engage in activities that foster positive thoughts. This can look like scrolling through positive quotes on Pinterest, reading inspirational books, listening to TED Talks on topics that are near and dear to your heart, or even listening to podcasts like Try This at Home! Technology opens that door wide open for you to have access to positivity with the push of a button.

This week’s Try This at Home is to engage in as many of these things as possible on a regular and consistent basis. Really sit down and ponder what you are doing today to foster positivity. With the world as crazy as ever and stress levels at an all-time high there is a ton of things that can cause us to dwell on the negative. With the negative, comes the positive, there is a lot of goodness seeping through as well and Leslie and Leslyn encourage you to shift your attention into the more positive spaces.

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Next Week’s Episode: Victim Blaming

One of our goals this year is to grow the podcast audience and you can help!

We would truly appreciate a share or a shout out if you found the ideas here helpful.

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Links to Look At:

Episode 22: Affirmations

[https://www.trythisathomepodcast.com/podcasts-1/2019/6/19/22-affirmations]

Sharon Salzberg | Lovingkindness

[https://www.sharonsalzberg.com/lovingkindness/]

Leslyn’s Uplifting Soundtrack | The Last of the Mohicans

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVjwBNsiOv0&t=2s]