Want to become more positive - any tips?

[SearchingforSleep]

Many apologies if this isn't the appropriate place for this...

I am very much a glass half empty rather than half full person and think I have always had a pretty negative outlook on life. My friends might be surprised to hear I feel like this - I am not constantly doom and gloom in company but inside I know I am a very negative person; I am a real worrier and constantly expect the worst.

I don't believe I am depressed but do think I don't cope with the everyday challenges that life throws at us all as well as I could because of my (generally) negative attitude.

I really want to turn this around for myself and more importantly for my family. I don't want to inadvertently pass on this way of thinking to my daughter.

Does anyone have any tips or can suggest any books that they found helpful that dealt with positive thinking?

Many thanks

What you're describing sounds like you want to change unhelpful thinking styles. This is what Cognitive Behaviour Therapy looks at, so self-help CBT might be useful for you perhaps?

This leaflet describes the kinds of unhelpful thinking styles that you can change once you are aware of them. So, for example, if you only ever notice the negative things in life, you might want to practice consciously looking for the positives.

There's a self-help workbook about worry here.

And one for depression that covers negative thinking styles here. I know you're not depressed, but Module 5 in that workbook looks at changing negative thinking styles.

This book, The Worry Cure is another good self-help book.

Whilst you're not necessarily experiencing enough symptoms of depression or anxiety to warrant going for therapy, you might be able to take some useful bits of CBT to develop more helpful thinking styles and strategies for yourself and your daughter.

Thank you so much Cabbage for those links - hugely helpful and exactly the sort of thing I was after. Very grateful to you for taking the time to write it all out.

Off to do some reading...

Glad to be of help

I'm finding these concepts really valuable in my own life, and like you, I'm thinking about how to teach them to my children. Hope there's something useful there for you.