Do you consider yourself a glass half empty or a glass half full type of person? It turns out that even if you are not inclined to see the glass half full, there are good reasons to try to turn your thinking around for better emotional health. More and more research confirms that learning or deepening compassion, optimism and resilience are all tied to better mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Healthwise has some great information about the ways that positive thinking can decrease stress and increase coping skills.

The first way to think positive is as easy as giving yourself a break. You know that voice in your head that wonders if you said something stupid in a meeting or gives you a hard time for skipping the gym? What if that voice was more inclined to pep talks than a bad cop? Information gathered by Healthwise finds that compassion toward yourself can actually help you feel more compassion and kindness toward others. Healthwise suggests celebrating little wins, like remembering the passcode to pay your utility bill. Or take a walk instead of kicking yourself for that bad phone interaction you had. For more ideas about easing up on yourself, search “self-compassion” in the Healthwise search bar.

Optimism, or positive thinking, takes a very similar approach to day-to-day interactions and experiences. According to Healthwise, realistic optimism doesn’t mean you see everything through rose-colored glasses, it just means you look at the "big picture"; see the good and the bad and then decide on a realistic expectation; think about what you can do to make things go as well as possible, and choose to focus on the positives, and on your strengths, as you go forward. For more great tips, type “optimism” into the Healthwise toolbar and watch the wealth of information appear!

Finally, the term resilience has been gaining traction over the past few years, and it can be seen as the next step in the practice of compassion and optimism. Resilience recognizes that, as much as we’d like to, we can't prevent stressful, unpleasant, and less than ideal experiences from happening, but what we can do is build up your ability to bounce back after a hardship, like another COVID-19 outbreak, for example.

Healthwise has a video full of ways to bounce back, from giving yourself a break with a favorite movie or letting off steam with friends, which might mean a skating party or a bonfire in the snow. The good news is, resilience can make you tougher when it comes to navigating the tough times, but it does not have to be tough to do! Search "resilience" at Healthwise for more ideas.