The people around you impact the quality of your life. And when you surround yourself with positive and uplifting people, you will experience more happiness and joy.
But how do you find good people?
In this article, you will learn seven powerful ways to get around and connect with inspiring people.
So let’s dive in!
Benefits of being around positive people
You are who you surround yourself with. You might know that already. But do you actively seek out more positive people in your life?
Doing so is especially important if you’re easily affected by the energy of others. But even if you’re able to cope with negativity, it will benefit you to surround yourself with positivity.
Here are some great reasons to surround yourself with positive and uplifting people:
More confidence: Positive people uplift you and make you feel good about yourself. That’s great for your self-esteem and can make you feel more positive about life.
Better opportunities: Uplifting people are more likely to network with others. This indirectly increases the chance of being introduced to someone who can advance you in your career.
High-quality relationships: Surround yourself with many good people and foster these relationships. While you will not connect deeply with everyone, you will certainly do with a number of them.
Increased creativity: Good people look for solutions when problems appear – not a scapegoat. Surrounding yourself with such people inspires you to develop creative solutions to your challenges.
More happiness: Laughing is one of the best ways to reduce stress and anxiety. Good people are more likely to make you laugh and don’t take themselves too seriously.
More success: One characteristic of good people is that they are confident and don’t feel threatened by your success. Instead, they want you to succeed too and will encourage you to take action and achieve your goals.
There are plenty of reasons to surround yourself with uplifting and positive people. So, let’s find out how you can form such relationships.
How to surround yourself with good people?
Finding good people may seem challenging at first. And that’s because the first stage is the most difficult one.
After all, it requires you to make a change.
You will need to change existing patterns for new ones. Think about developing new beliefs. And you will also have to step outside of your comfort zone to make those first connections.
Here are seven tips to help you.
1. Be a good person
You attract people who are like you. So, to attract positive and uplifting people in your life, be a good person yourself.
Become the person you would like to be around.
Some tips to keep in mind:
First, try to be open-minded. When you are open-minded, you are more likely to see the good in people and appreciate their differences.
Don’t speak badly about others. Especially not behind their back. Doing so will ruin your self-respect, and others will lose trust in you. How do I know if you won’t talk badly about me with others when I’m not there?
Second, be positive yourself. Try to focus on the good and solutions rather than problems and the negatives. When you are positive, it rubs off on those around you and lifts their spirits. Doing so creates a mutually beneficial relationship.
Finally, be friendly. People are more likely to open up and share their truths with good people. This allows for the deep and meaningful connections we mentioned earlier.
Cultivate these traits in yourself, and you will attract good people like yourself.
2. Let go of negative relationships
Negative relationships often have counter effects to the benefits that we described earlier. And the best way to avoid that is to cut out the negative people from your life.
But cutting people out isn’t always practical or easy to do.
What if they had your back many times in the past? Or what if they are really good friends or family?
In such cases, you want to approach the situation more subtly. While you can still surround yourself with such people, you want to reduce your time around them. And instead, increase the time that you’re around uplifting folks.
That way, you are exposed to more positivity that counteracts the occasional negative voices in your life.
3. Identify uplifting and good people
There is no easy way to identify positive people. However, there are a few things that you can do to help you to identify them.
Meet like-minded people. What are your goals and interests? Join (online) events or groups where those with similar interests, ideas, and visions come together.
Look for people who are passionate about something. Passion is an excellent indicator of positive emotions and is a sign that someone is interested in life.
Identify people that genuinely help others. Those who take time to help others without expectations are always good people to surround yourself with.
Find people who are positive all the time. Of course, these people also have mood swings. But eventually, they reframe their challenges positively.
4. Constructive criticism
Just because someone is uplifting doesn’t mean they won’t give you feedback.
Quite the contrary.
Good people are honest and will tell you how you can improve as a person. They hold you accountable and share their viewpoint.
They will also give honest yet constructive criticism. It may mean that sometimes, it’s challenging to listen to such feedback. But make sure to stay open to it, even if you disagree.
Why?
First, they do it from a place of love, and they want to see you grow and succeed. The second reason is that everyone has a different perspective. So it might give you some clues into how people with a different perspective view certain situations.
5. Get outside your comfort zone
Do you find meeting new people scary? Most people do. And that’s especially true when you’re trying to make new friends.
Are they even interested in meeting you?
Well, some of them might not. And if you run into some of those people, don’t let them knock you down.
Yes, approaching and meeting people is scary at times. Yes, it does require you to be vulnerable. And yes, sometimes, you will be rejected by others.
Courage requires you to become vulnerable.
And while you might face some rejections, you will find out that most people are friendly. Some of them will be glad that you approached them.
So, what about the ‘painful’ experiences or rejections? Well, these are essential to developing rock-solid self-confidence.
6. Be more interested, not interesting
Everyone wants to feel important.
And there is a time and a place for you to be the center of attention. But in most cases, you should be more interested in others than trying to impress them with your stories.
Read that again.
It’s a radical mindset shift because it takes the focus away from you towards others. So instead of speaking what you want to say, ask follow-up questions. Be genuinely curious about their stories and experiences.
Of course, you can tell a little bit about yourself and your stories. And you should prevent the conversation from becoming an interview.
Just let them finish their stories and be curious about them. Let them talk more about themselves than feel the need to talk about you. Curiosity is the keyword here.
7. Contribute to others without expectation
Finally, try to find ways to contribute and provide value to other people’s lives without expectation.
Give more than you receive.
There are many surprising benefits to this, like improving your general well-being and happiness.
But also, those who genuinely give more than others, without expectation, end up receiving more than others.
The key is to give genuinely without expectation.
Because if you secretly expect things in return, the universe will know. And you end up only fooling yourself.
Closing thoughts
You will experience many benefits when you surround yourself with good, positive, and uplifting people. They will inspire you, help you achieve your goals, and improve your happiness.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Being around positive and uplifting people increases your self-confidence, well-being, and overall happiness. It also opens the door to better opportunities and more meaningful relationships.
- Become someone you would like to be around.
- Reduce the amount of time around negative people and increase it around those with positive energy.
- Seek like-minded people that are confident, have a passion, and genuinely care about others.
- Look for people who are willing to give you constructive feedback or criticism – and act on it.
- If meeting new people scares you, teach yourself to push through that fear. Some will reject you, but the ones that matter will be happy you approached them.
- Focus on being more interested than interesting.
- Add value to others without expectation.
Now it’s time to get uncomfortable, take action, and meet some awesome new people.