When something terrible happens, it's natural to focus on the negative aspects of the situation. However, this can often lead to feelings of negativity and pessimism. If you find yourself dwelling on the bad things that happen to you, try focusing on the good instead. It can help you become more optimistic about life and see the silver lining in every cloud.

Look at the bright side of things.

You might have heard the phrase, "Is the glass half-full or half-empty?" It involves thinking about a glass filled with water up to half of its capacity. Of course, saying either half-full or half-empty is true, but it can indicate your general outlook on life. For example, seeing the glass as half-full can show that you are an optimist; seeing it as half-empty can signify pessimism. Of course, this test involving looking at a glass filled with water is not an absolute indicator of one's worldview, but it can give an insight into how a person generally looks at things in life. Mainly when terrible things happen, how do you look at the situation? Do you focus primarily on the negative aspect of things or try to focus on the good stuff? Depending on what you keep focusing on, it can affect your general outlook on life. If you want to be more positive, it's better to focus on the good things, no matter how bad a situation can be. Several things can help you achieve this.

1. Regulate your self-talk

Whenever something unpleasant happens, do you notice yourself talking inside your head as if there is an inner voice telling you about all sorts of things? This inner voice is called self-talk, and it refers to the thoughts that run inside your head, which can be positive or negative. These thoughts come about due to your experiences, knowledge, and perceptions of how things may happen. It's like running an internal commentary about yourself and how you see something happen in front of you.

Being an optimist can lead to positive thoughts, such as thinking that you can do it or creating the best possible outcome in your head while encouraging yourself to do better. On the other hand, negative thoughts can happen when you are a pessimist, such as thinking about the worst-case scenario and belittling yourself with destructive talks.

If you find yourself doing more negative thinking and trash-talking yourself, you better stop and try to regulate how you talk to yourself. Think of yourself as another individual, and if you don't want to say something terrible to another person, you do the same to yourself. Boosting your self-esteem can help as well as being kinder to yourself. Practicing these things can help you focus more on the positive things and regulate the negative whispers in your head.

2. Surround yourself with good company

The people we spend time with and those surrounding us in our everyday lives can influence our way of thinking. Toxic people can ruin a healthy mind. For example, if you immediately get bombarded with gossip and backstabbing at the start of your day, it can destroy the rest of your day. Likewise, having unsupportive and unreliable people in your home and workplace can cause stress and anxiety that can hurt your mental health.

Stop wasting time with people who don't bring any good and positivity to your life. Instead, befriend people that make you feel good and support you in your goals and success. Then, you can focus more on the positive side of things and eliminate toxicity in your life.

3. Don't keep up with society's expectations too much

Society has so many expectations from us. We should look and act this way, have particular possessions in our life, accomplish something when we're this age, etc. You get scrutinized and treated differently when you don't meet these expectations. If you let these things get you, you will worry more about what you lack instead of focusing on everything you have. An excellent way to combat this flawed thinking is by practicing gratitude in your life. There's no need to feel inadequate when you know what you need and want, and you may have them already in your life.

Also, don't play the comparison game too much. When you keep comparing yourself to most people around you, it will create feelings of lack when you realize you don't have what they have. In addition, it can make you forget about the positive things in your life.

4. Look at a situation and see if it is as bad as what you think it to be

Whenever you hear some bad news or something terrible happens to you, look at the situation carefully before you blow it out of proportion. Is it that worse, or could you be magnifying things because of negative thinking? Sometimes, a problem is not that serious, but when you focus on the bad too much, it can make it way more significant than what it's supposed to be. In addition, one negative feedback can make a pessimist think of other worst-case scenarios, which may not necessarily happen.

The next time you hear some negative news or have something happen to you, analyze the situation without reacting too much to it. It could just be a simple problem that is solvable within your capabilities and knowledge.

5. Look at unfortunate events from a different angle

Problems will happen in our lives. These can give us stress and make us look at life as some arduous process that we have to go through. Most people will probably treat problems and failures as negative experiences and can make one pessimistic when they repeatedly occur. If problems are permanent occurrences in life, it will be better to adopt a different way of thinking. Otherwise, one will only become jaded when they see life as a cycle of neverending problems.

To gain a better positive outlook on life, you can look at problems and failures differently. One can treat them as learning experiences, so you get an idea of what doesn't work and do something new and better the next time. Chances are, you can become successful in the future. Also, try to find a silver lining behind the unfortunate event. There could be a positive light at the end, and these events may set you up for something better later.

Positive things are there; you only need to notice them.

You may have noticed it already. Something becomes positive or negative depending on your perspective. Therefore, it all hinges on whether you like to focus on things' good or bad side. It may sound easy, but changing how you look at things can be challenging, primarily if you are used to thinking about negative things.

Life is what you make of it. Positive thinking will make it look better. Thinking otherwise will make it look like a chore and annoying thing to go through. We shouldn't let our thoughts control us too much and learn instead to be on top of them. It won't hurt to look at the bright side of things; it's free, and you can always take a chance to do something to improve your situation. Good things are there; we only need to look behind the cloud of negativity to see them.