The health press are hot on the trail of positivity of late, as mounting evidence shows that those who live with their glass half full are living longer.

This could be for a variety of reasons, two of the more obvious ones being:

1. that negativity is stressful and gets us down physically as well as emotionally and

2. that the body and mind are expert at manifesting our feelings and expectations.

Simply put, pessimists tend not to expect to live a long and healthy life, and their body may well dutifully arrange things to make it so.

Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania recently conducted a study in which “pessimistic” students were sent to optimism workshops, as a direct result, many of them began experiencing reduced anxiety and paying less visits to the school’s health services department.

The good news :-), is that optimism is contagious, but we have to be willing to allow that chink of light through the curtains that lift our spirits. This is where support groups and workshops can be of great value, as they can help us learn new skills to pep up our outlook.

Here are a few fun and easy ways to change the way you look at your glass: