More Positives than Negatives
Increasing the amount of positive experiences in our lives is important. Making sure the positive experiences outweigh the negative will help maintain the benefits it has to our well being.
There are many things that we can do to increase the amount and frequency of positive experiences that we have. These include; relaxation therapies, finding positive meaning and increasing pleasant activities.
Relaxation Therapies
Relaxation therapies include:
- Muscle exercises
- Imagery exercises
- Meditation Exercises
Positive Techniques
Finding a positive meaning can be difficult but is worthwhile. There are a few things that you can try e.g. increasing pleasant activities can include purposefully engaging in activities that you know you will enjoy, as well as savouring them. We will cover both of these in more detail later on in this topic.
Reframing events in a positive light
This is like the idea of finding a silver lining, and trying to appreciate any benefits to a negative experience.
Finding positive value in ordinary events
Setting personal goals, big or small, and then achieving them. Taking the time to appreciate having reached a goal and celebrating successes.
Attaining goals
This is about appreciating the little things e.g. day to day kindnesses and the demonstration of strengths.
Consider more:
1) What types of relaxation exercises have you tried? What helped?rnrn2) Do you try to find a positive meaning in life events? Is it easy or challenging to do so?
You might want to make notes at this point. These may help you remember things, work out what you want or see how much you’ve changed if you read them again in a few years’ time.