7 ways to turn a bad day into a good one

You are driving to work and your car suddenly breaks down. You try not to lose heart and keep calm, but it does not help. This is not the first trouble of the day: you overslept and did not drink coffee. When you get to the office, you can’t decide what business to take on.

No matter how the day starts, being proactive and having a clear coping plan will help make things right.

1. Choose a positive attitude

When we think only about the bad, the brain becomes clouded. We feel frustrated and cannot bring ourselves to do anything useful. Try to look at troubles from a different angle: this is an experience that will help you avoid mistakes in the future.

2. Don’t wait for something good to happen.

Shakespeare said: “Expectations are the cause of pain in the heart.” When we expect something and it doesn’t happen, we feel we’ve been disappointed, that we’ve been unlucky. Every minute something happens, regardless of our expectations, plans and intentions. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we begin to appreciate joy.

3. Ask yourself: “How did I get here?”

Have you achieved something, or maybe something good just happened? Consider why this happened: through hard work, luck, or coincidence? If you know what brought you to your current situation, then you can understand what needs to be done to achieve your goals.

4. Pay attention to details

By focusing on the little things and small steps, you will not only speed up the path to the goal, but also make it enjoyable and interesting. If you are so busy that you can’t stop to breathe in the scent of roses, then one day there will come a moment when you look back and ask yourself: «Why was I running all the time instead of enjoying life?»

5. Do good every day

The poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Happiness is like a perfume that cannot be poured on others and not a drop on oneself.” Make it a habit to do something good every day.

6. Accept your feelings, including negative ones.

You should not be ashamed of your anger or sadness and try to ignore them. Try to understand, accept and experience them. Embracing the full range of feelings helps to have a positive attitude towards life.

7. Show empathy

Empathy is the key to mutual understanding, it helps to build and maintain relationships with people who are different from us and radiate not only positive. Business consultant Stephen Covey believes that everyone has their own paradigms, thanks to which we perceive the world in a certain way, decide what is good and what is bad, what we like and what we don’t, and what to focus on.

If someone tries to break our paradigm, we feel hurt. But instead of being offended, indignant and trying to hit back, you need to try to understand why a person behaves this way and not otherwise. Ask yourself: why is he doing this? What does he go through every day? How would I feel if my life was like his? Empathy helps you understand the world better and relate to it more positively.

Source: Pick the Brain.