If you want to create lasting positive change in your life in the healthiest and  most instructive way,  let go of the negative.

What is your usual go-to attitude when something adverse happens to you? How do you respond when it’s time to make difficult changes in your life, when it’s time to forgive a friend, or when it’s time to take responsibility for a mess you didn’t create?

Our go-to first response is usually negative. “Why me? What did I do wrong? What about Uncle Bob? He’s the one who is responsible for the family chaos.”

In the short term, negative backlash or blowback can be damaging to your mental and physical health. In the long term, stress and anxiety resulting from negative feelings can result in even more serious harm to your body, mind and spirit.

Your First Response is Negative

Humans seem to be hard-wired to favor a pessimistic or defeatist attitude when faced with struggle or conflict. Negativity hits like a hurricane, and humans forget to take a step away from the situation to assess the importance of seeking a positive response.

The longer you live, the more you realize it’s never too late to harness a more productive and satisfying cycle of mental awareness, and that you can mindfully create a lasting positive change, especially during your 60s. Chances are, you will find that your life will be more joyful and balanced going forward.

Be careful about thinking that the more you do, the harder you work, the more physical exercise you generate, and the more you go outside yourself to ride the positive wave, the more difficult it will be to achieve a consistent state of positivity.

A practice of self-reflection and making an intention to find the positive in the negative will lead to lasting positive change.

Create Lasting Positive Change Going Forward in Your 60s

There is a myriad of ways to change the negative into a positive. However, the following 5 tips are my personal favorites:

Meditate

If you want to measure your life in the positive going forward, first slow down the endless, mindless mental chatter. The more still you are, the farther you can go.

Take 10 minutes a day to decrease the incessant negative conversations you have with yourself. There’s no best friend in your head. It’s just you! And you are the only one who can measure your life in all its awesomeness.

Let the negative thoughts pass by without engaging in labeling and judging them as negative. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, inhaling and exhaling through the nose. Keep your lips and jawline soft. The stress and anxiety will leave your body and face as you feel the lightness of your being.

Keep Life Simple

Are you making your life more complicated than it needs to be? Are you collecting people, places and things that get in the way of making clear positive intentions?

Keeping life simple and eliminating the superfluous reframes your mindset to reflect positive purpose. Removing negativity will be your new luxury.

Say “No”

Do you say “Yes” to people, places and things because it requires little thought? Crucial to creating a positive response to your amazing self is your ability to discern and reflect about what adds value to your life.

‘No’ is a powerful word when used appropriately because it is a cogent measure of how you establish boundaries and belief systems that add balance to your work and life.

Wake Up with Gratitude for Positive Change

Every morning I wake up with deliberation and gratitude. I look at my beautiful bedroom and embrace the darkness with my positive energy. I am grateful that my life has everything I want and need to be fulfilling and productive as a mother, grandmother, friend, author and dancer.

I think of my life as a giant goodie basket, which contains everything I am as an individual. If you are grateful for everything that’s happened to you – and you keep every joy and struggle in your goodie basket – you will create the ultimate positive measurement of your day.

Keep an Open Eye for Positive Change

Every day you wake up, scan for the positives in your life. Then work optimistically and energetically to keep positivity present in your conscious mind.

Make your intention to find the positive in the negative no matter the moment, no matter the outcome, no matter your emotions. It is a very powerful way to enhance personal and profession development and increase individual fulfillment.

An open heart will give you a measure of how you are managing your positive expectations and how your mindset can be changed to reflect peace, joy and fulfillment.

What positive changes have you made in your life recently? Do you have a heart that reflects a generosity of spirit and a sense of encouragement and inspiration for others? Please use the comments below to share your ways to keep a positive attitude.

Joan Moran is a keynote speaker, commanding the stage with her delightful humor, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. She is an expert on wellness and is passionate about addressing the problems of mental inertia. A yoga instructor and an Argentine tango dancer, Joan is the author of 60, Sex, & Tango, Confessions of a Beatnik Boomer. Her new book, I’m The Boss of Me! Stay Sexy, Strong & Smart at Any Age, is now on Amazon. Check out Joan’s website joanfrancesmoran.com and follow on Twitter @joanfmoran.