Negative thinking can be a hard habit to break.The human brain comes with a natural negativity bias, which means your mind will naturally focus more on the bad than it will the good. When you think about this from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense. Your brain was designed to keep you alive, not happy. So you had to be on the lookout for predators, warring neighboring tribes, and social missteps that could get you outcast.

So it’s perfectly natural to have negative thoughts. That said, negative thinking has a lot of downsides. Negative thinking makes it more difficult to connect deeply with friends and loved ones. It makes you more mentally rigid, which makes it more difficult to learn new things and adapt to new situations. There are also a lot of bad health outcomes connected to negative thinking, though the exact causes are not clear.

Just as we have invented buildings to keep us safe from predators, we can also create strategies to keep our minds strong. Here are three ways to step away from the negative thoughts and build your mental muscles.

1. Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal

This is an oldie, but a goodie. Gratitude journaling is a tried and true method for practicing positive thinking. It’s a pretty simple exercise: every day, you write down the things you are grateful for.

Now it’s important to actually write this down, preferably by hand, because it’s easier to recall the things you have written down by hand. It’s also best practice to keep a physical journal so you can see the list building up. However, if writing isn’t your thing, you can also take pictures of the things you’re grateful for and save them in an album.

After a while, you will see your gratitudes building up. In addition, you will find it easier to find things that you enjoy and recall things you are grateful for. In addition, you may notice your relationships improving because it’ll be easier to tell your friends and loved ones the ways you appreciate them.

2. Reframe Negative Thoughts Into Neutral Thoughts

Sometimes building up to positive thinking is hard. If that’s the case for you, it’s probably easier to start with reframing into a more neutral thought.

Let’s say you’re struggling to learn a new skill. Instead of telling yourself, “I can’t do anything,” you can say something like “I’m learning this and I’m not great at it yet.” Or if your negative talk centers around your body, you can tell yourself something like “This body can walk far.”

If you happen to find positive affirmation eye roll-inducing, try neutral self-talk first. It’s more important to take steps that feel authentic to you rather than being someone else’s version of positivity.

3. Engage in Physical Activity

One of the important factors in getting out the negative thoughts is exercise. Emotions don’t just exist in the mind, they also exist in the body. A rousing dose of exercise can lift a depressed mood and calm an angry mood. Plus, the natural endorphins and dopamine released by exercise will definitely make you feel better.

If you’re not a gym person, try just taking a walk outside. Exposure to sunlight and movement is a natural mood booster. Even though it’s not a cure-all, it certainly doesn’t hurt to go for a walk.

Remember: Practice Makes Perfect

You probably won’t flip from a Negative Nancy to a Positive Polly overnight. That’s ok! Training your mind to be more positive is a practice. You get better at it the more you try.

If you’re really struggling with negative thoughts, reach out for help. Whether it’s professional help, a good friend, or supportive community, you don’t have to do this alone. There are a lot of people learning how to train their brains to think positively, and it helps to share the experience.