Sometimes we feel like we are standing at the top of highest mountain, we admire our past and present. This feeling of being happy and to be at the highest mountain has many different features. It fills us with love and compassion, we feel that nothing can stop us, we feel that we are the best we can be and we begin to smile towards life and to see ourself in better light. Some even say that secret to happiness is to take things easy and to see things in a better light – In other words to be positive towards life and others. The essence of who we are is in finding usefulness in our surroundings, when we smile at our surroundings and we enjoy life as it is, we begin to see things differently. Not just our own self worth but worth and value of other beings, when we smile towards life, life smiles back to us.
There is warmness in finding meaning in things around us, sometimes this can be a difficult task but meaning comes in different shapes and forms. We need to be aware that every high feeling has its low opposite, sometimes we can find meaning in positive feelings and sometimes we can find meaning in negative feeling. What is worth considering is that our outlook towards life and our way of thinking is an important factor in this. There is comfort in being aware of this reality. We need to smile at life and see it as it is. Life and everything related to it has a role to play. This role maybe positive or negative but nevertheless there is a role.
We need to be aware that we have control over ourselves. We have a short period in this life therefore we need to make most of it. We need to stop our inner critic and focus on positive thinking which help us not to live in the past or worry about future. Therefore knowing that life is never all or nothing is very important, there is no need for perfectionism in our life. Since perfection is a never ending task, we will certainly fall short. These will help us better channel our energy towards having a more fulfilled and positive life.
Being positive helps us reduce stress, have an open mind for possibilities, have a more improved health and better social connections. Positive outlook doesn’t mean avoiding difficult situations, it means creating a positive balance when dealing with life obstacles. We need to manage life events and overall we face big and small challenges in life. Our outlook in life is related to our emotions, and our worldview effects how we see the future. Therefore more positive outlook will result in a more optimistic view of events, this enables us to have the curiosity to find purpose in imperfect situations. Overall positive outlook is associated with better health and better outcome in life.
Another aspect of our outlook in life is seeing everything as a learning opportunity, for example if we make mistakes we need to see this as a learning opportunity for ourselves. Also seeing life as a learning process helps us see things differently and look at learning as an opportunity to better ourselves and to improve ourselves. Another aspect of our outlook in life is social connection, this is about cultivating meaningful relationships in life as well as seeking opportunities in life to have meaningful relationships. We are social beings and therefore by being socially active we help ourselves improve quality of our life. By incorporating points mentioned above we can foster greater well-being and grow as individuals.
Smile and bodily movement can help stimulate our wellbeing. It boosts confidence and improves perception therefore it results in better relationship with oneself and also better relationships with others. Another point to consider in our outlook towards life is our self compassion, especially during difficult times we need to acknowledge our imperfection and knowing that we are doing our best. This can be achieved by acknowledging good things in our life and appreciating life as it is. We need to pay attention to our thoughts and feelings at every moment without any judgement and try to understand ourselves better.
Positive emotions help in broadening our outlook, creativity, resilience and our overall well-being. As positive emotions help broadening our individual awareness and personal resources over time. Therefore the individual is able to be more equipped with life challenges over time. While there is justified reason for negative emotions and they are useful in our life, our past and overall experiences of positive emotions help balance out our negative emotions and how we deal with life challenges. And for this reason they help promote our quality of life.
In my experience it is important to remind ourselves that our outlook in life doesn’t need to be all positive as this is not realistic. All we have to do is to be aware of life ups and downs while knowing that being positive towards life outcomes helps us better deal with situations. This will help in creating a balance in our life. A balance in work, family, relationship, health, personal growth and the list is on going. To create balance in our life we need to have a good self awareness. We need to know our strength and weaknesses, also have a plan and direction for our personal improvement. This self awareness helps us better make decisions in our life. It helps us to have and create balance in our life.
Balance in life is subjective and it varies depending on the individual and circumstances. Therefore balance in our life needs to be evaluated from time to time. Balance is not about achieving perfection in our life, it is about creating harmony in life that supports our overall happiness in life. This is possible by knowing that it is an ongoing process and we need to smile and to be aware of our outlook towards life.