Positive Living: 9 Influential Writers Share the Secrets behind their Positive Approach toward Life

The meaning of positive living differs from person to person. Staying positive amidst the ever increasing negativity all around is not a child’s play but some people know the art to smile and stay optimistic irrespective of the situations and external environment. Today I have 9 such people with me who will share with you their philosophy and the ‘secret’ behind their positive approach toward life.

These 9 influential bloggers/writers who have been spreading positive vives through their blogs, books and lifestyle are simple people like you and me. Neither do they have a magic wand to turn things in their favor, nor are they from a different planet. All they have is the maturity to look at things from an entirely different perspective.

Over the last few years these writers have inspired me from time to time and I am grateful to all of them for participating in this roundup post, on my request, in spite of their busy schedule.

The question I asked was “What according to you is positive living and how do you mange to stay positive in day to day life”. And believe me, the answers I got from them has inspired me once again.

 So dear readers, go ahead and unlock the secrets to a positive, better and a peaceful life…

P.S- The order in which the responses are listed are not based on the blogger’s popularity or any other ranking system. The earliest received responses are put first followed by the ones that came later. 

Yatin Khulbe 

The people, who cease after the first state, can’t even imagine the enormous impact of ‘give and take.’ Though the second state brings in more happiness, it doesn’t demand an extra effort from the giver’s end. What it requires is an intention of creating a productive environment all around.

I stay positive in my day to day life by:

Practicing the power of gratitude: I count my blessings to suppress my negative thinking. Whenever I feel low, I either recapture my sweet memories or visualize my bright future goals.

Giving back: My digital journey started when I was about to end my life. I gathered confidence after receiving love and warmth from the online community. Though my past was full of unexpected events, I can’t forget the positive learnings along the whole journey. Now, I’m on a mission to giving back the same love and warmth by injecting positivity in people’s lives and eliminate the social stigma associated with mental health.

Connecting with like-minded individuals: It doesn’t matter whether you meet people virtually or personally, what matters most is how you chose the rights ones based on your frequency levels. I interact with those who understands my vision. I share my feelings with those who feels my pain.

Marquita Herald

About: Marquita Herald is a personal development and resilience coach, author, blogger, founder and chief evangelist at Emotionally Resilient Living. It is her mission to challenge others to think about things in different ways and not just accept the status quo, to pay attention to their lives and take responsibility for their choices, and believe, really BELIEVE in their ability to grow beyond their circumstances and direct the course of their lives.

There are so many misconceptions about the concept of positive thinking I’m going to begin by clarifying what it’s not.  It isn’t about being happy 24/7, looking through rose-colored glasses, denying your fears, or sticking your head in the sand and hoping that your problems will just go away. It is about tackling life’s challenges head-on with a positive outlook.

I view positivity as a lifestyle choice. It’s a mindset that is cultivated over time and is much broader than any one strategy such as being grateful or filling your mind with positive thoughts. The reality is you can think happy thoughts all day long and still get rear ended when you back out of your parking spot. That doesn’t mean you failed Positive Thinking 101, it is just life.

“What’s important to remember is that while we may not be able to control everything that happens to us, we are always in control over the way in which we respond.”

A positive mindset enables you to avoid falling into the self-destructive trap of resistance and negativity. You are able to remain focused on the things that really matter and open to possibilities for growth regardless of the challenges you may be facing, confident that whatever happens, even if it means a new reality, you will be okay.

One thing, in particular, I take very seriously is personal boundaries and do whatever it takes to minimize my exposure to negative, unkind and manipulative people. I follow those same guidelines when it comes to the news I consume.

Volunteering has always been a valuable source of positivity for me. I especially enjoy community outreach projects and have chaired 3 county food drives. When you lend a helping hand to another human being you can’t help but raise yourself up at the same time.

I also work at keeping things in perspective. If I feel myself growing tense about something (or someone), I walk away for a short time to regain balance and think of the big picture. Is this really a problem or just my ego flaring up?  If it is a problem, how can I turn it around? And by that time I’m ready to either solve the problem or move on.

I’d like to close by acknowledging that changing behaviors and attitudes takes time and patience, but regardless of circumstances, anyone can do it if they’re willing to do the work. It really comes down to making the commitment to become the driver in your own life journey.

Harleena Singh

About: Co-founder, CEO, principal writer, and chief editor of Aha!NOW, an award winning and widely accepted blog on leading a better, happier and peaceful life. In other words Aha! Now is a place to discover the true meaning of life.

To me, positivity means having a positive state of mind; attitude, perception, and perspective. It all boils down to the nature and processing of your thoughts and emotions – What you think and what you do with your thoughts?

Being positive means taking the problems in your stride and accepting challenges, being ever evolving and an advocate of change, always thinking of positive options and making positive choices, finding a reason to smile and feeling worthy in every moment of your life.

A characteristic of leading a positive life is to embrace the adverse events of your life, get a deeper understanding of them, have a positive feeling and outlook, and taking positive action. Being positive gives you confidence, courage, and hope. It reduces stress and makes you feel better and progressive, and eventually you feel happier and powerful.

This is what I do to stay positive in my life – live in the moment – live for each moment, and look forth to a better life by making positive choices. Here is a post on living a positive life and I hope it will help the readers.

Ikechi Awazie

About: Self development blogger, Content Strategy Expert, Social Media Consultant. Ikechi blogs about making a difference and inspires people to be  light to the world. 

Positivity begins with your mindset. The way you see yourself determines how you will live your life each day.

Staying positive means that one’s joy and happiness should come from within and not be attached to his circumstances or challenges.

Our world is filled with perception. Actions are guided by thoughts and staying healthy is based on the series of mental thoughts that one allows in his live every day.

Once I discovered that thoughts make the difference, it has helped to make me stay positive. I see challenges as a learning process; I see problems in a way that makes me appreciate my world and be grateful for all.

I am grateful every day for the little things that I have achieved in my life. I see my failures and challenges as gold and awesome insight.

Life does have to be boring as we all make our world beautiful.

Patricia Weber

About: Patricia is an Introvert inspirer, internationally recognized introvert authority, supports the more introverted, and baby boomers of any personality preference, to find their voice in everyday life and business situations to help them go from fear to remarkable. Through her books, teleclasses, speaking, coaching she has helped her clients become people who are beacons of success for others in their organizations. She blogs almost everything introvert at http://patricia-weber.com

Positivity to me means being able to accept situations of any kind, as they are without worrying or anxiousness. Worry is about what happened in the past, and which none of us can change. Anxiousness is being fearful of what can occur in the future, which no one has control over.

Being human, at times we’re going to get pulled along like a trunk in the desert sand. Plans fail, relationships go sour, and people we love die. Note, any one of these happenings isn’t a forever proposition. The sand can just keep us stuck.

One way to get back in the positivity lane is to use both our feelings and thoughts as a trigger to stay present, instead of moving us to either worry or anxiousness. Until we can stop that pull, like a snap release when we know we’ve opened the door to negativity, some of us might be tempted to worry for a day or more. How is that helpful to either us, someone else, or the situation? Practicing mindfulness is one way to manage our positivity.

Another approach is to reflect on positive statements throughout the day. I’ve made it a morning habit to in part, spend time reading the Bible. In doing so, I’ve discovered wisdom which escaped me for years. In writing several blog posts about worry and anxiousness on my blog, several verses serve me well. Summarizing one, “Be joyful, pray continuously, be thankful in all circumstances,” helps me the most.

Life for even the most successful and happiest of us has down and up situations. The key is to recognize that these are simply junctures when we get to choose: will we open the door to negativity? Or think, act, and speak in positivity ways? The choice is always ours.

Michele Harvey

About: Michele Harvey is a certified life coach, nutritionist, author, and published poet on a mission to promote positive change in people’s lives, and to help people return to or remember their own essence, to help them realize their unlimited potential, regardless of external circumstances, people and events. Michele partners with her clients all over the world, helping them to deepen the use of their own intuition, to overcome blocks, and to find, fuel, and fulfill the life of their dreams.

When we learn to trust our intuition, we make choices based on faith in ourselves, in life and in our connection with the Divine as we understand it. I believe this anchor, which includes a healthy dose of daily self-love and gratitude, is the first ingredient in living a positive life.

Learning to slow down and to listen more to my intuition, is a skill I am developing daily and it helps me to stay positive. Many of us have been taught from an early age to ignore our intuition and few have been taught how to tap in to their intuition and to use it for the gift that it is.  I have come to realize that intuition is like Divine guidance. The times I have heard my intuition speak to me loudly, and yet not heeded it, have later proven to me that my intuition was spot on, one hundred percent of the time.

Meditation helps me show up with wisdom and to live in the moment. It helps me perceive things with greater clarity and to feel more grounded in my daily life. It helps keep me on track by reminding me to be grateful, when I begin to forget who I am in the deeper sense of the word.This includes being grateful for myself.

“When I meditate, I focus on what I believe is the best possible outcome of a situation. I focus on what I believe needs to be healed, and feel gratitude when visualizing that whatever problem, I believe I have, has already been solved.”

I’m human. I don’t always feel positive but I know that if I can find things for which to be grateful, about a person, or a situation, if ask myself what I can learn from that person or situation, it helps me stay positive, even if the encounter itself was negative.

I try to remember to step back and become the observer of a situation.  Calmly, observing a situation as though you are watching it on TV, gives you the benefit of increased depth perception and objectivity. It also gives you some time to decide who you are and how you choose to show up around what is occurring.

People often have trouble remaining positive due to beliefs around scarcity. These beliefs cause fear.  In truth, there is more than enough to go around, and we have a much better chance of attracting what we believe we need, by thinking and acting constructively to achieve it, if we can remain calm and positive, as well as grateful for what it is we do have.

Below are some suggested actions taken from my book, “From Confusion to Clarity,” that have helped me and others work with feelings of scarcity…

“Think deeply about the areas in which you feel you are lacking. For example, do you wish you had more money, or more friends?  Find one person who you believe needs what you have identified on your list, and give it to them without expectation of a payback. If you wish you had more money, find someone that needs money and give them some, with sincerity. You don’t have to give them all your money, obviously, but stretch yourself to the point where it pinches you a bit. Keep a journal recording how your interaction made you feel about your own situation. Write down everything you learn from this exercise.”

“Give to others what you wish to possess and you will find that you had those very things all along, that you thought were out of reach,” a quote from the book.

Lastly, do things you enjoy. I believe it is important to create a positive environment for yourself. Focus on the things you appreciate and that bring you joy. To stay rejuvenated, I listen to music that uplifts me, or I write poetry, go out in nature, exercise, or talk to friends. I don’t think you can live a positive life if you fill your head with the evening news and surround yourself with negative people. Though I believe it’s important to know what is going on in the world, it’s just as important to strike a balance that allows you to remain in a positive space.

Below are some links to my blog as a life and spiritual coach, that further discuss ways of living a more positive life:

What Do You Do When the Bottom Drops Out? by Michele Harvey

Personal Growth and Adapting to our Changing World

Rohan Chaubey

About: Author of the book “Make People Want You”, blogger at rohanchaubey.com, contributing journalist at HuffPost, social media geek and programmer. Aha!Now listed Rohan as one of the top 10 most Inspiring Men Bloggers.

For me, being positive is about being mentally tough. Mental toughness is finding positive in every difficult situation.

Here are a few ways we can cultivate positive outlook:

1. Think in terms of growth mindset not criticism.
2. Let go of toxic people, and associate with optimists.
3. Prioritize for things you really enjoy doing – reading, writing, play sports, etc.
4. Avoid consuming negative media sources – TV, Radio, Newspaper, etc.
5. Have nothing to prove, protect, and hide.
6. Express gratitude daily. Send ‘thank you’ emails or messages.
7. The popular 5 by 5 rule – “If it’s not going to matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes upset by it”.

Tia

About:Certified Life Coach at your life your way, filled with inspiration & advice to grow your courage + confidence so you can sparkle from the inside out & live the life you want – not the life you “SHOULD”

Now that we have reached the end of the post, I am sure this post must have inspired you to appreciate the importance of positive living.  If you have any questions, doubts or feedback, feel free to share them in the comment section. You can also connect with any or all of these wonderful bloggers by visiting their blogs for further inspiration. Take care and keep smiling.