You might have heard all the kerfuffle in recent years about Positive Psychology and happiness.

Good stuff! And let’s be realistic,  happiness is internal; it comes from within you right?

Even though happiness can show as a smile on your face, a brightening of the eyes, happiness is all about your body naturally producing pleasure chemicals to make you feel extra good.

Okay, so, since we cannot always control what’s happening around us (like a pandemic,  for instance), how can we dwell on solutions rather than focus on problems?

How do you create your positive solution focus?

Move toward instead of away from something.  Instead of I don’t want to feel cooped  up during shelter-in-place, how about I will be energetic and joyful during quarantine? Picture yourself being energetic and joyful and then live it.

Or use an if/when then statement:  If I get stuck during a work assignment then I will take a 20 minute break in order to get back to productive work.  Or When I catch myself reaching for an unhealthy snack then I will go for fresh fruit instead.

Proven effective,  reframing a negative goal (I want to stop doing something) to a positive statement (I am going to do something) tells your brain chemicals to be more positive.

Have a wonderful time creating your own internal positive solutions instead of concentrating on negative problems!

Bio:

Jonni Lukenbill-Bowles is a Career Counselor and Lifestyle Coach in the midwestern United States. See more about Jonni on sageprairie.net and her blog at sageprairiestudio.com . Write to Jonni at CoachJonni AT CoachJonni DOT com.