Four ways to start the day with a positive mental attitude

Love to leap out of bed and embrace the morning? Here are four ways you can start the day with a positive mental attitude from Jasmine Nash.

For many years it seems I have been in a tug of war with my thoughts and emotions. And it has taken a lot of tears, tantrums and days of complete emptiness to get to a positive place.

This place sometimes seem like a million miles away. But over the years I have learnt ways to implement and maintain a positive mental attitude. And I’ve reaped the rewards as a result.

Not only does life become simpler, calmer and more enjoyable when you have a positive mental attitude, it also brings other benefits into your life.

You’ll see your overall physical health improve, and you will start to attract the same energy into your life – whether that’s through new friendships or work opportunities.

How the Law of Attraction can help you get what you want

Heard of the Law of Attraction? The more you dwell on all the things and feelings you don’t have, the more things and feelings you will need to be happy.

Conversely, if you are ultimately grateful and happy for what you have at this present time, you will start to see more good things enter your life. What you give out will be reflected back to you. 

It is so important that in this modern age where we are exposed to an overwhelming volume of technology and information that we take time to bring ourselves back to reality. We need to remember what is ultimately important to us. Otherwise we can get caught up in (and even obsess over) what other people value or appear to have.

It can be hard to focus on the positives all the time, especially with work and a busy social schedule, however starting somewhere is better than starting nowhere. 

To help you, here are four steps you can take to implement and maintain a positive mental attitude.

1) Strategic placing

Whether it is your favourite colour, quote or photo, placing items around your house that genuinely make you smile and feel happy with remind you of them of this aspect of your life. 

Seeing a photo of you and your loved ones for example, will remind you of what you have in your life and help you to remember to be grateful for them. 

Although you may not know it, colour can affect our emotions and moods more than we think. Foe example, yellow can elicit energy and warmth, red portrays love and excitement, and purple represents wealth and wisdom. So paint your walls or add decorations and art that incorporates your favourite colour into your space. 

2) Start as you mean to go on

When you wake up in the morning it can be hard enough to drag yourself out of bed, and the last thing you may want to do is make your bed. However, I know I feel better coming home to a clean and tidy room than coming home to a messy bedroom after a long day at work. 

So try to get into the routine of making your bed as soon as you get up. If you start your day with a positive, organised attitude, the chances that you will have a good mental day are much higher. If you wake up with a negative attitude, you will feel that energy seep into the rest of your day. 

Feeling negative in the morning?

  • Try getting more sleep. Or maybe you had too much sleep? The recommended length of sleep is 7 to 9 hours.
  • Drink a glass of water, you might be dehydrated.
  • Don’t look at your phone.
  • Don’t think, just do!
  • Before you go to bed write down three things you are grateful for, and read them in the morning.

3) Be inspired

There’s something really special about seeing a quote or phrase that relates to the situation and struggles you may be going through. Knowing that other people understand and are going through (or have come through) what you are experiencing can make you feel less alone and more hopeful.

Surrounding yourself with inspirational words – whether they’re written or spoken – can give you the strength and optimism to carry on, and even help to reframe and put into perspective a tough situation.

So find printed quotes to place and hang up around your home and workplace, and listen to songs and podcasts that uplift you.

You could place a positive self affirmation on your mirror or your fridge, or even invest in a bluetooth bathroom mirror and blast tunes whilst getting ready to make your morning more positive. Every week or so, change the quotes you have placed, to give you fresh inspiration.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes that always seems to cheer me up and stimulate my positive mental attitude:

  • ‘You could be the ripest, juiciest peach in the whole world but somebody is still going to hate peaches’ – Dita Von Teese
  • ‘The people that enter your life are one of two things: blessings or lessons’
  • ‘Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right’ – Henry Ford
  • ‘You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great’ – Zig Ziglar

You could even take a day out of your busy schedule to book a spa day, removing yourself from a familiar environment and letting someone else take care of you once in a while is good for you and can clear your mind for fresh inspiration. 

4) Clean, clean, clean

There’s a reason why we’ve got into the habit of spring cleaning – having a clean and tidy home free of clutter not only is good for your overall physical health, it also helps to banish unwanted negative energy.

It may be the general energy in the air or the negative connotations that come either with particular belongings, or just general clutter in your home or workspace.

Regularly cleaning and throwing out items that serve little purpose to you is a great habit to get into. It will save you money in the long term and will clear your personal space of bad vibes.

To help inspire your spring clean (whatever the time of year it is), here’s some cleaning and minimalism advice:

Photo by Evan Dvorkin