A trio of mindsets.

What are your first thoughts in the morning the moment you wake up? Do you feel grateful for waking up to another day in your life? Are you filled with positive energy and appreciation? Are you eager to begin your morning habits/ tasks? Or are you more likely to rehash yesterday's anxieties and worries, leaving you feeling empty at the beginning of your day?

Too often, people aren’t aware of the way they begin their day. They just do whatever feels most natural to them. If your life is filled with stress and anxiety, it will feel natural to react with unease and negativity. But ultimately, who decides what your life feels like? You do.

It’s not situations that happen to you. It’s not your job nor the negative people you are surrounded by. You decide, whether you are aware of it or not, by allowing positivity or negativity to dictate your days. That's how you keep attracting more of whatever you give the most focus.

Rather than beginning your day on autopilot, try a mindful approach to gratitude. Exercising mindfulness helps you to be present at the moment. For 2-3 days, express gratitude for the air in your lungs, or just being alive. Once you have done that for a few days, you can expand your appreciation to include things like your comfortable bed or your first cup of coffee.

What changes may come?

Eventually, what appears to look like the key to changing all of that is some form of life intervention. And yes, some external changes can bring about an improvement in your well-being and life. Still, sometimes you’ve had enough. So, you ditch the toxic relationships, the soul-sucking jobs, or the unhappy places, and that makes a world of difference.

However, there is an equally powerful agent of change that can deliver tremendous results for your well-being. It doesn't cost much, and everyone can afford it - it's gratitude. Several studies show that expressing gratitude is the easiest and most reliable way to boost happiness and health. And who doesn’t want that?

The importance of positive thinking.

Positive thinking is an important basis for a person's overall life philosophy. It's almost too simple: "positive thoughts generate positive feelings and positive results." However, research on emotions confirms that positive emotions generally wear off very quickly. So how do you maintain it?

Your emotions revel in novelty so much that a brand-new car or a luxe handbag may only make you feel thrilled for a limited time. Soon the novelty wears off and depending on your car or bag as sources of happiness won't be sufficient.

You'll then need another pair of shoes or maybe a diamond watch to spark your excitement. This slump in your happiness factor can cost you big bucks if you rely on material things as primary sources of positivity. Because of their fleeting influence, 'things' don't sustain joy. You need something less temporary and more permanent.

Gratitude magnifies positivity.

Gratitude is potent because it doesn't cost anything but can attract and magnify more positivity in your life.

Fostering gratitude enables you to find joy in ordinary things, the little things, refining your ability to see value in the simplest of ways, creating lasting joy. Even if you're surrounded with material blessings, it’s gratitude that keeps you contented rather than feeling a need for more than what you have.

A person can look so blessed from the outside and the perspective of other people, but unless they're grateful, they often don't know how truly well-off they are. Some rich people are neither contented nor happy. They’re in a constant state of needing more to generate feelings of happiness.

Meanwhile, some people seem to have less in life but feel grateful and blessed because they have what matters most to them. Gratitude doesn't quantify whether you have much or have very little; it simply turns what you have into ample, causing you to 'have' so much more.

How mindfulness fits in.

Gratitude is wonderful; it's like a magic pill that causes you to feel happier and appreciate what you have. However, like everything else, it has its limitations.

When bad things happen to you, it can at that moment be difficult to feel grateful. Gratitude, however, can help shine a light on other reasons to feel more thankful and blessed with life, but it doesn't deliver solutions on its own. Gratitude alone won't help you fix your problems.

Thus, your ability to accept things for what they are or how they are is just as important. Life will regularly deliver knocks. When situations are difficult, we need to find a way to respond graciously even if life is crappy. Gratitude may not be enough to eliminate natural feelings that come because of your situation.

Sometimes, gratitude needs more time to awaken your awareness. This is where mindfulness comes into play. Take time to observe what’s around you. It may be you may need to give yourself a few days or weeks to begin benefitting from the practice of mindfulness in your life.

For this very reason, acceptance of your situation is key. A non-judgmental kind of acceptance and awareness that will help you remain gracious despite difficult situations is what is needed.

Mindfulness is as fundamental to positivity as gratitude is. In moments when it's difficult to appreciate things and find the light in the darkness, mindfulness can help us make space for healing to occur. However, gratitude will reinforce our resilience and help us practice mindfulness and take the necessary actions to tackle any problems.

My final thought.

The three mindsets, gratitude, positivity, and mindfulness, tend to improve anything they are coupled with. So, include them with a success or productivity mindset and watch your career take off. Add them to kindness and see the difference you can make in other people’s lives.

For more information on this topic, read these posts.

Mindfulness And Gratitude

The Effects Of Gratitude On Your Life And Health

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Some people always seem moodier than others. You could say it’s in their nature. This wouldn’t be a problem but for the fact that their mood is bad or negative. No one ever says, “hey, beware of what you say to Henry, He’s in an excellent mood today.” So, it’s obvious, while we all have good and bad moods, it’s only the bad ones that label us as being moody.

Let’s look at the psychology of moods and what can be done to improve your moods.

Do moods affect our psychology?

It's that feeling you get when you realize you just ran out of coffee. Or that discouraging feeling of stress when you discover some disappointing news. No matter the situation at hand, there is a strong, biological force manipulating our behavior.

What's this mysterious force you may ask? It's none other than our mood.

Neuroscientists and researchers have spent a great deal of time analyzing how our moods impact our behavior. While they've made accurate strides, there's still so much to be learned about why our emotions impact our mood and vice versa.

Are emotions and moods interchangeable?

While many conclude that emotions and mood are the same, interestingly, they aren't. The theory of emotions states, "emotions are patterns of firing in large groups of neurons that integrate neural representations of situations, cognitive evaluations of those situations, and physiological changes."

Put simply, your emotions are based on preconceived patterns, beliefs, and personal goals associated with thoughts and feelings. For example, if you were passed up on an opportunity at work, likely you'll be disappointed; maybe even angry. Why is that?

You're programmed to believe that if you don't receive the acknowledgment, you're automatically a failure. While extreme, this conditioning of patterns influences how you perceive your day. Because of this letdown, you may categorize your entire day as being, 'bad."

While your emotions may impact how you view your day and overall behavior, your mood controls something completely different.

Moods and feelings

One author eloquently stated, "moods are dispositions to have emotions. Salt has the disposition to dissolve in water, and glass bottles have the disposition to break when dropped."

So, how does your mood compare to your overall emotions? According to science, your overall mood "produces" the emotions you express. Let's go back to the job scenario. If you were in a relatively good mood before the news, your emotional reaction to the situation may be balanced. You are naturally disappointed, but you aren't lashing out or engaging in activities you'll regret.

By contrast, if you were in a bad mood before hearing the news, your emotions could send you into a tailspin. Thus, engaging in words or actions that you could later regret.

When considering how your mood impacts your behavior, one must recognize that mood and emotions are interchangeable in a comparative sense. For example, if you're excited about getting a new job, likely your mood is going to reflect that. If you're frustrated about your morning commute, that negative energy could affect the rest of your day.

Although your mood and emotions utilize different neurons and chemical processes, they're still quite similar when it comes to how your behavior is impacted. Regardless of your emotional state, your mood is always going to be impacted by your feelings and vice-versa.

Positive coping mechanisms

Because the two are so closely related, it's prudent to learn positive coping systems that can help you control your mood when consuming emotions occur.

While this is no easy task, many people have found that through professional help, medication, or deep breathing exercises, they have been able to control their emotions in a way that doesn't impact their mood.

Some examples of this are practicing mindfulness. This involves allowing emotions to filter throughout the body without judging or controlling them. You're able to maintain your balanced mood, even in the face of extreme stress.

Other coping strategies can be normal activities that have a calming or decompressing component to them, such as cooking, gardening, or playing with your pet.

You needn’t be a victim of negative beliefs or situations. Developing your own set of positive coping systems and receiving the help you need will help you learn how to effectively deal with your emotions and control your overall mood.

Along with the emotional benefits of a good mood, there are also health benefits. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Health benefits of feeling joyful

Joy is the feeling of enormous contentment, appreciation, and happiness. It takes on a mystical meaning when applied to your everyday life. Many people, no matter their race, class, or nationality, experience joy even in the face of numbing situations.

Many individuals experience joy when they choose to ignore the negativity in their life and concentrate on the positive. That's why the phrase "choose joy” has achieved popularity over the years.

While being joyful influences your attitude, it also plays a key role in keeping you healthy. Believe it or not, your emotions have a lot to do with your relationships, productivity, and even life expectancy. If you're looking to improve your health, start with the mind. Let's consider a few health benefits that come along with choosing to be joyful.

Increasing your happiness

Individuals who choose to be in a joyful mood experience an overall increase in their happiness. Developing this optimistic view helps them cope effectively with daily challenges.

While joy is centered around recognizing the bad, yet searching for the good, joy doesn't disregard negativity. Joyous people embrace what has happened to them headfirst.

Instead of drowning in their sorrows, they act. Their joy affords them the clarity to make mindful decisions that could improve their position.

In addition, when negative circumstances arise, they're able to handle their emotions without doing something they'll regret. This keeps them from taking damaging actions that could ruin their lives.

Decreases depression

While depression is considered a chemical imbalance, people who choose joy, suffer less depression and anxiety. How so?

As mentioned, they recognize their emotions and develop strategic ways to solve their issues. By staying "busy" in this regard, they're able to ward off depressive or anxious thoughts.

However, this isn't to say that individuals who suffer from depression and anxiety aren't joyful. Instead, it's only meant to showcase the statistical side of choosing joy.

Reduces your risk of heart failure

When you subject yourself to a lot of negativity and stress, this has an enormous impact on your heart. Over time, your heart will experience serious complications due to this constant negative stimulus.

Individuals who choose joy have decreased cardiovascular problems and an overall healthy body. By choosing to rid themselves of negativity and instead focus on the positive, they're preserving the health of their heart.

Improvements to motivation and proficiency

Happy people are more likely to get things done and have the energy to do so. Have you ever heard the saying, "this activity is exhausting"? People say this when referring to crushingly negative projects that drown their happiness.

When you feel happy, you're more productive, social, and imaginative. You're able to create fresh ideas and have the energy to execute them. Because of this, people with creative jobs are required to take time off for their self-development. This helps them cultivate additional mental clarity when handling their daily tasks.

A good mood enriches your relationships

Being in a good mood makes others want to be around you. They aren't bogged down by sad stories or negativity. Therefore, people who choose to be joyful are more likely to have a wide range of contacts to choose from.

In addition, your romantic and interpersonal relationships are healthier when you're joyful. You're able to connect with your partner in a solution-focused manner as opposed to trying to win. This is crucial for keeping your long-term relationships healthy.

Choosing to live a joyful life makes you happier, more productive, and easier to get along with. These perks alone should inspire you to home in on your happiness. By doing so, you'll feel an inner peace like no other.

My final thought

Just as it improves so many other things, gratitude can improve your mood. Gratitude for what you have allows you to brush off negative feelings that affect your mood. I think of gratitude as being the ultimate positivity.

For more information, please read the following posts.

Create A Better Mood For Yourself

Mind Body Connection How Your Emotions Affect Your Health

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Gratitude, Mindfulness, And Positivity, 3 Valuable Mindsets