Letitia Williams » Boost Your Mental Health with Positive Activities

While you may not have full control over your biology, thoughts, or past traumas, you are in control of taking proactive steps to improve and maintain your mental health and overall wellbeing. The best part? The methods for doing so are cost-effective, simple, and self-administered, allowing you to incorporate them into your life in your own time at your own pace. This powerful approach can be summed up in two words: positive activities.

All it takes to get started is a decision—a choice to live a life where your wellbeing improves, positive emotions are more frequent, and overall life satisfaction increases.

What Are Positive Activities?

Researchers define positive activities as intentional, regular practices that enhance personal wellbeing by promoting positive emotions, thoughts, and behaviours, while also satisfying psychological needs. By focusing on wellbeing, rather than only addressing distress, you can help reduce negative emotions, behaviours, and thoughts that may otherwise lead to mental health struggles. The benefits of positive activities also extend beyond mental health, improving your career, relationships, and physical health, which helps you better cope during challenging times.

How Positive Activities Improve Mental Health

Counteracting Negative Emotions: Positive emotions can neutralise the physical effects of negative emotions like sadness and anxiety, lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and improving overall physiological responses.

Navigating Negative Thoughts: When you're able to think and feel positively, it becomes easier to manage negative thoughts that often accompany difficult moods, such as overthinking, pessimism, grief, or feelings of isolation.

Coping with Life's Challenges: A happier outlook helps you cope with negative experiences like job loss or bereavement, reducing the likelihood that stressful events will lead to mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, or substance abuse.

Enhancing Work and Relationships: Positive emotions boost work performance, improve relationships by fostering stronger support systems, and even strengthen your immune system, promoting better physical health.

Improving Cognitive Function: Positive emotions improve your ability to think clearly, pay attention, and be more creative.

Building Resilience: If your biology, past trauma, or personality increases your risk for mental health disorders, practising positive activities can help protect you from developing those conditions.

Creating Positive Spirals: Just as negative behaviours (like binge eating or substance abuse) can lead to downward spirals, positive behaviours (like practising gratitude) can spark more positive actions, such as regular exercise.

Satisfying Psychological Needs: Positive activities help fulfil fundamental psychological needs such as autonomy (feeling in control), competence (feeling effective), and relatedness (feeling connected to others). Meeting these needs enhances overall life satisfaction.

Reframing Negative Events: When faced with adversity, positive activities equip you with tools to reframe a challenging situation into something more empowering.

Examples of Positive Activities

Writing letters of gratitude
Counting your blessings
Practicing optimism
Performing acts of kindness
Using your strengths in new ways
Affirming your core values
Meditating on positive feelings toward yourself and others
Practicing mindfulness
Visualising your ideal future
Savouring positive experiences

This list is by no means exhaustive—positive activities can take many forms. The key is to engage in practices that elicit positive emotions, thoughts, and behaviors for you. You can start with one and build from there, experimenting with a variety of activities and practicing them regularly, ideally once a week, to make a significant impact on your mental health.

Positive Activities Are NOT One-Size-Fits-All

It's important to choose positive activities that suit your personality, preferences, and circumstances. You’re more likely to stick with these practices over the long term if they align with your values and needs. To strengthen the effects of positive activities, it can be helpful to involve others—whether through connecting with people online or in person who also value these practices.

Additionally, consider what specific challenges you’re facing. If negative thinking is a problem, practicing positive self-talk might be beneficial. If you're more socially oriented, acts of kindness could be more effective.

If you’re finding it difficult to benefit from a positive activity, it’s worth reflecting on why that may be. This could be an opportunity to seek support from a coach or therapist who can help you unpack any barriers and guide you toward experiencing the full benefits of positive activities.

Would you like to speak to a coach? Use this link to book a complimentary coaching session today.

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References

Layous, K., Chancellor, J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2014). Positive activities as protective factors against mental health conditions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123(1), 3.

Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activ