Dream about your Future

Another simple way to boost your positivity is to dream frequently about your future. Conjure up the best possible outcomes for yourself. Visualize your future successes in great detail. People who are assigned at random to carry out such an exercise show reliable increases in their positivity relative to those who carry out more mundane self-reflections. Although it’s not yet clear how visualization works, one suggestion is that it gives you insight into how your everyday goals and motives fit into your dreams about your future. This may well help you extract more goodness out of your daily activities. Strikingly, visualization has been shown to activate the same brain areas as actually carrying out those same visualized actions. That’s why visualization has been such a powerful tool for winning athletes. Mental practice can perhaps be just as effective as physical practice. At the very least, it’s a positive and energizing complement. Visualization may work especially well if you have long-range projects, such as getting an education, writing a book, or building community.

Fredrickson, F. Barbara: Positivity: Top-notch research reveals the  3-to-1 ratio that will change your life. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2009. p.189.