"Good."

I want to introduce a perspective, and that perspective can be captured in one single word - “Good.” Train yourself to say “good” as your default way of thinking about things. This forces you to process things in a way that is more positive because it needs to match the positive angle you chose to take. Let me give a few examples.

Told you need to work late on Tuesday? Good! That means you’re an important member of the team and you have job security. Was your car broken into and a few personal items stolen? Good. That person probably needed that stuff more than you did. Did your best friend split up with her long-time boyfriend? Good. Now she can be more okay discovering herself all over again.

Do you see how that works? If you choose to respond to different situations with the answer “good” before anything else, it shapes the way you perceive it. 

But now when it comes to growing this habit, and really ingraining this idea in your psyche, it needs to start with gratitude. You need to be intentional about priming your brain to see things through a positive lens, and that must first be established effortfully and consciously before it becomes a subconscious process. However it doesn’t need to be that effortful, it can be as simple as taking 30 seconds to write in a  gratitude journal everyday, just giving your brain enough to flex its gratitude muscle.