Try optimism

Are you a cup half-full person? If you are, you know already the benefits of a positive attitude. You most likely feel healthier—and are healthier, too. Because you have a positive attitude about your future, you no doubt put more energy into creating it. So your satisfaction level is higher. And your stress levels are lower because you produce less cortisol, research shows.

If you are a cup half-empty person, don't despair. Suzanne Segerstrom, a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky who has studied optimistic vs. pessimistic people, says that if you act like an optimistic person, the benefits of optimism (satisfaction, health and lower stress levels) will follow. So it's again one of those "fake it until you make it" behaviors. Try to think like an optimist would. Act as though you are one.

I like the words of poet, philosopher and theologian Khalil Gibran: "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."

See what can happen if you try to think more like an optimist. Begin by finding at least four things each day that are blessings—at least four things for which you are grateful. Gratitude is a good start to developing a positive attitude.