If you could buy a single product that guarantees you happiness at the push of a button, would you jump to take it? What if I tell you that you already have the seed of that something, and it is yours for free and all you have to do is to plant it and allow it to grow?

That something that can make you feel better, happier, and excited about life is your own mind through positive thinking and attitude.

Keeping a positive attitude is not dependent on the events in your life because life happens even when you stay still. Therefore, a positive attitude comes from inside you regardless of what is happening outside.

Here are 7 ways to grow your positive attitude:

1. Clean up your internal dialogue

A positive attitude starts with the things and the words that you are telling yourself. Glorifying what you are doing right is not arrogance, it’s positive reinforcement. Offering yourself understanding of what you are doing wrong is not self-indulgence, it’s self-compassion.

Clean up your internal dialogue, use encouraging, confident and compassionate words, a calm voice tone and daily affirmations. All of these are medicine to your soul and self-esteem. Plus, a pleasant self-talk improves your interpersonal skills and the way you relate to others.  

2. Write a gratitude journal

A gratitude journal gives you the opportunity to notice, acknowledge and be appreciative for the positive people and things in your life. It is an exercise that makes you hit the break, pause, and pay attention to the multitude of great things you have in your life. Things that, otherwise can pass unremarked and undiscovered.

“In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” — Dalai Lama

3. Reframe your problems

First, change the words you are using about a problem. For example, a “problem” is an issue or a challenge. Second, formulate the issue as a question and not a statement. A question gives you multiple possibilities of answering, various ways to go forward, a new beginning. On the other hand, a statement feels definitive, it feels like a dead end.

4. Attract positive people in your life

The easiest way to attract positive people into your life is to be one! Do you know the saying “misery likes company”? Happiness loves company too. Surrounding yourself with positive people is a two-way street. The better people feel in your presence, the better you feel as well. The more positive messages you send, the many positive messages you receive from others.

5. Search for the upside of things

Apparently, the tendency to notice more the negative or the positive side of things is due, in part, to genetics. However, no matter your genes, you can turn things around. Searching deliberately and purposefully for the upside of people and things is a process that is rewiring your brain towards your desired outcome: a positive attitude.

There is almost nothing and no one in this world that doesn’t have the same values and worth to offer you. It is just a matter of practice and patience to discover that part.  

6. Communicate and be assertive about your needs and desires

Being assertive and voicing your needs and desires is part of a positive attitude. When you are assertive about what you want or don’t want, it can calm your feelings of anxiety and fear of rejection. Even if you don’t get each time what you want, know that you had the courage to ask, done the best you could.

Learn how to communicate effectively to others so that everybody wins something at the end. Silence, anger, frustration, screaming, for example, are ways of communication. Is it not? However, they are not effective, nor productive in any shape or form. Assertiveness and communication go hand in hand, influencing each other and giving power one to another. Plus, both are an essential part of building a happy, content life not only for you but for those around at the same time.

There is not harmonious family life without assertiveness; there is no collaboration without skilled communication.  “Lack of communication” is nonsense. We are communicating something at every interaction we have. The only questions are what are you communicating? Is it your communication random, left to chance or is it polished and intentional?

“The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.” — Lee lacocca

7. Avoid taking part in unnecessary disputes

Temperate your sense of entitlement and vanity. At every interaction you have, remind yourself, every step of the way, what are your intentions, goals and where do you want to get at the end. People like others that makes them feel good about themselves and that is an excellent aim of your positive attitude in life. Give good and good you will receive.

What are some techniques you use to maintain a positive mindset?