How to Feel Positive When You Don’t

Unapologetic Wine Mom

5 min readOct 26, 2020

Act As If — This is how to feel positive when you don’t!

Create Confidence, Self Esteem, and a Positive Attitude

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What Does It Mean To Act How You Want to Feel? How to feel positive when you don’t?

Human beings are creatures of thought AND emotion, and interestingly, how we act can affect how we feel. How to feel positive when you don’t? Think through the below.
Thoughts and emotions are how we process experience — they help us navigate through the world
There is a hierarchy of processing that occurs in the brain
In this hierarchy, thoughts usually take precedence over feelings
However, feelings are generated in a more profound part of the brain than our thoughts
This means that emotions and the feelings they generate can have the ability to overpower rationality
When this happens, how we feel is then translated outward into the world as actions
As long as you’re feeling positive, there isn’t a problem with emotions preceding thought in brain processing
However, to feel positive feelings, in most people, these aren’t dominant
This is a direct result of maturity — negative emotions, like fear and anger, motivated us to take actions that led to our continuing survival and well-being
In history, what we see as negative reactions were actually beneficial to the individuals for the most part
We are biologically programmed to generate “negative” emotions when faced with stress
As a result, how we feel is most often how we act
Negative emotions produce negative actions and positive emotions produce positive actions usually
You can have a powerful influence on this phenomenon by reversing the processing priority that guides how you interact with the world
When you rationally put action first, it has the same power to influence the feeling that irrational feeling has to influence action
This means that how we act is how we feel

The Benefits of Acting How You Want To Feel

So how to feel positive when you don’t?
If you have negative habitual behaviors, these behaviors are caused by the way you are feeling
You react to situations in a way that generates negative feelings:
These negative feelings, in turn, cause negative behaviors that reflect those feelings
Forcing a behavior that is the opposite of the usual action; the feeling causes allows for an exploration of the situation
This exploration allows for a discovery of the benefits inherent in the situation
These benefits reinforce the positivity of the forced behavior which, in turn, actually changes the initial feeling
This is the first benefit of acting how you want to feel and it is pretty exciting stuff
When you break the cycle of negative thinking, you end up with a more positive outlook
This positive outlook results in positive actions which, in turn, reinforce the positive outlook
Instead of negative feelings generating negative behaviors that generate more negative feelings, you begin to experience a positive, upward cycle
Positive actions generate positive feelings which cause more positive actions
This is the second benefit of acting how you want to feel, are you starting to feel hopeful and maybe even excited about the possibilities?

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Specific Examples of Acting How You Want to Feel

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Do you want to feel positive? Act positive!
If you’d like to be more successful, act more successfully. Carry yourself with more confidence, and exude the air of someone who has nary a worry would.
You’d like to be healthier, act healthier. Make better choices in what you eat and the level of activity you get each day. Small changes equal significant results, and they add up over time.
If you’d like to be rich, act rich. Consider what being wealthy means to you, personally. Study those who have the lifestyle you’d like to lead, have the material things you want to have, and have achieved the level of success that you desire
Do you want to be happier? Act happier. Think about what it is that truly makes you happy.
If you want to be less stressed, act more calmly. We all deal with unbelievable amounts of stress these days — and much of that stress comes from worrying about things we have no control over. If you can’t change it, then stop worrying about it!
How can you feel positive when you don’t in regard to social and being outgoing? Do more social activities.
If you want to be thinner, act thinner. Correct your posture by standing up straight with your shoulders back and head up. This can take 10 pounds off how you appear!
Are you tired of coveting what others have, want to be less envious of others? Act less jealous. Think about what makes you happy, and aim for more of that in your life!
If you’d like to be more giving, act less selfishly. Make it a point to give to and do for others without expecting anything in return

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So, how to feel positive when you don’t? Act positivity out! Grab your golden globe award!

In all seriousness, it isn’t really pretending, but one could call it acting. Serious acting that can change your happiness. Afterall, negative feelings do not give us an ounce of happiness. Try it! I know this can all seem so very simplistic.

Perhaps we need to try simplicity for changing negativity to positivity. Why go the complicated route if the shorter, simpler route works as well, or even better?

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