

Most people are primed to experience pleasure in special moments, such as a wedding day or a vacation. Focus your attention on something pleasing as it occurs, consciously enjoying the experience as it unfolds. Feeling pleasure helps sustain a positive attitude. Many of them are explained in the Harvard Special Health Report Positive Psychology. Over the last decade, researchers have identified practices that can help you achieve and sustain a positive attitude toward your future. Mounting evidence from medical studies has indicated that people who think positively have a lower risk of dying of all causes compared with others their own age who have a gloomier view of life. doi:10.1002/pon.Learning to think positively may extend your life Optimism, social support, and mental health outcomes in patients with advanced cancer. doi:10.1016/j.psc.2010.04.005Īpplebaum AJ, Stein EM, Lord-Bessen J, Pessin H, Rosenfeld B, Breitbart W. Cognitive behavioral therapy for mood disorders: Efficacy, moderators and mediators. The development and prediction of athletic performance in freestyle swimming.

Stanula A, Maszczyk A, Roczniok R, et al. Optimism and its impact on mental and physical well-being.

doi:10.2196/11290Ĭonversano C, Rotondo A, Lensi E, Della vista O, Arpone F, Reda MA. Online positive affect journaling in the improvement of mental distress and well-being in general medical patients with elevated anxiety symptoms: A preliminary randomized controlled trial. Smyth JM, Johnson JA, Auer BJ, Lehman E, Talamo G, Sciamanna CN. Expressive writing: Improving optimism, purpose, and resilience writing and gratitude. The neural basis of optimism and pessimism. Changes in optimism and pessimism in response to life events: Evidence from three large panel studies. Optimism, pessimism and mental health: A twin/adoption analysis. Plomin R, Scheier MF, Bergeman CS, Pedersen NL, Nesselroade JR, McClearn GE. One study found that expressive writing focused on positive emotions was linked to decreased mental distress and improved mental well-being.
