Positive Outcomes are Worth Remembering

Optimism makes hope possible. It’s the essential attitude by which you can turn those proverbial lemons into lemonade.  Optimism is vital to resiliency because it allows you to avoid rigid thinking and to maintain flexibility and adaptability. Optimism, like a well-tuned engine, provides you with the power, energy, and traction needed to bounce back and start moving again when things aren’t going as you envisioned or planned. 

When things aren’t going your way, it’s easy to feel stuck and lose resiliency. Positivity breeds more positivity. When you feel down or have lost your zest and energy, recalling a successful and positive outcome from the past might be just what the doctor ordered to shift your mood in a helpful direction. Remembering and relishing a positive outcome from your past is not self-centeredness or bragging. Rather, it’s a useful reminder of how the big wheel of life constantly turns, and that change is inevitable.

How to Recall a Positive Outcome:

1. Get settled and centered in a quiet place and breathe in three calming breaths.

2. Remember any situation where you enjoyed a positive outcome. This can be similar or different from the situation you now find yourself in.

3. Recall your positive outcome in as much detail as you can. This could be anything from a positive relationship outcome to being proud of an accomplishment or reaching a material goal.

4. Remind yourself that things always change. The secret is in knowing that the clouds will eventually clear away, and the sun will shine again.
   
5. Locate a coping skill. While steeping yourself in your positive outcome, do you recognize any skill that helped you reach your positive outcome? Is that skill applicable here and now?

6. Appreciate your resilience. Above all, appreciate the strengths and resources you have applied in your life. These are the keys to getting unstuck and moving forward.

Use this practice of remembering a positive outcome anytime you feel stuck and would benefit from a resilience booster of confidence and positivity.

No one is immune from life’s many obstacles. To live with a human body and a human mind means having to confront grief, loss, disappointment, frustration, and even illusion. Fortunately, that is only part of the story.

You can decide how to best play the hand you have been dealt in this life. How you respond to life’s stumbling blocks and hurdles right here and right now can make all the difference.