I was inspired to do the positivity board at the same time I created my achievements collage, and the article based on it. So, you could call the positivity board a follow up or a sequel to my achievements collage, because it is. It’s something that I thought I’d share with my readers because it’s a really simple crafting activity that celebrates you. I hope you enjoy this article and take up the challenge of creating your own positivity board.
What Is A Positivity Board?
As the name suggests, it’s something you create that highlights the things that can help you feel positive. This is an idea plucked from positive psychology, making it a pretty useful positive psychology intervention to boost your wellbeing.
For those of you who don’t know what positive psychology is, why haven’t you read my article on it (which you can find here, by the way)? Kidding aside, positive psychology is a theoretical approach that uses our strengths, while the rest of psychology focuses on our weaknesses (Peterson, 2008). It’s a really interesting approach to wellbeing, as it’s not just for people who are struggling with mental health. Positive psychology can help anyone, even those who are already feeling great.
Gratitude
Creating a positivity board is a way to tap into our gratitude. A couple of years back, I wrote an article that featured a letter I wanted to send to someone that I was grateful for. They were the only person throughout my childhood who stood up to my racist bullies on my behalf.
Writing that gratitude letter is an act of self-care. This might not seem like it, but a study by Toepfer and Walker (2009) found that writing gratitude letters caused an increase in two areas of wellbeing: gratitude and happiness. Meaning, you can benefit from writing these letters without having to send them. This is useful if you’re not able to contact the person you want to tell how grateful you are too.
That was one way to tap into gratitude. Another way can be done through journalling by using a gratitude journal prompt. With a simple gratitude journal prompt, such as writing one thing you’re grateful for each day or each week, can help create a positive mindset. It’s also a great way to tackle the negativity bias, even in depression.
Starting Your Positivity Board
To craft your positivity board, you’ll want to collate the things that make you happy and make you feel good. When I did this, I focused on positive things about my blog. I looked through the tweets of the nice things people have said about my work because I’m grateful for those comments. I also used examples of achievements I’ve made with my blog, which gave me a sense of pride in my work, and made me feel grateful too.
For example, here’s one of the tweets I selected.
You can make a positivity board using traditional crafting methods. There are plenty of crafting places where you gather supplies for your positivity board. You can also print some stuff off if, like me, you want to use stuff from online that you’re grateful for.
What I chose to do when making my positivity board, however, was to use Canva and Paint.net. Canva is easy to use. They have a section of templates you can use to make a quick and simple positivity board, which you can find here. I then used Paint.net to personalise it with a lot more ease. I have a certain aesthetic if you haven’t noticed already.
Making Your Positivity Board
Here’s how to put your positivity board together:
- Select the photos, images, screenshots, quotes, etc. that you want to use to highlight what you’re grateful for.
- Arrange your photos by creating a layout.
- Customise the borders, and add colour, texture, and patterns to personalise and make your positivity board pop.
- Then, add any text you’d like to your crafting project.
- To finish, display your positivity board somewhere you’ll see it.
Summary
It is really easy to craft a positivity board. The benefits of doing so are a great payoff for taking the time to make one as well. Positive psychology tells us how we can use our strengths and be more positive, and this is just the positive psychology intervention to get you started.
So, have I convinced you enough to create a positivity board? If so, then what are you waiting for? Get crafting and tag me in your creations on social media if you share them because I would love to see them.
As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, please share your experiences with crafting a positivity board in the comments section below as well. Don’t forget, if you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, then sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, get push notifications for new articles by clicking the red bell icon in the bottom right corner.
Lastly, if you’d like to support my blog, you can make a donation of any size below. Until next time, Unwanted Life readers.
Referrences
Peterson, C. (2008). What is positive psychology, and what is it not? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-psychology-and-what-is-it-not.
Toepfer, S. M. & Walker, K. (2009). Letters of Gratitude: Improving Well-Being through Expressive Writing. Journal of Writing Research, 1(3), 181-198. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276486329_Letters_of_Gratitude_Improving_Well-Being_through_Expressive_Writing.
I call the positivity board a companion to your achievements collage.
That’s a good way of looking at it
Yes, and it’s congruent with [what I understand to be] the principles [and practice] of positive psychology.
The iterative element is very helpful, I think!
[in that you CAN add one thing at a time – or work on one theme].
I was interested to read more about the apps you use.
When I do it I go into Sketch.io and/or I use my graphics tablet which I bought for Christmas 2018.
[and then Apple Scanner for the creations the old-fashioned way!]
Haven’t done it yet, sounds like a lot of fun making it. Thank you for sharing 😊
I hope you enjoy making yours
What a great idea for those who are artistic
Definitely
What a fabulous post! I especially loved that you shared your positivity board, as it gave me my own ideas of how I would design mine and what I would put on it. It would be such a nice thing to wake up to each morning. 🙂
I’m glad my positivity board helped inspire how you’d create yours
This is interesting, I didn’t think about something like. I’m going to save this and try it. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks
I really like this idea for any age and I liked that you included pictures of school age children doing this project at school. It is a fun and very creative way to be artistic and demonstrate gratitude. Thank you for sharing! 🤗
Pastor Natalie (Examine This Moment)
Letstakeamoment.com
Thanks for commenting
Such a lovely idea. I’m going to give it a go, and might try and persuade my daughter to do one as well. She is very creative so would enjoy doing it, but I also feel it would help her to boost her self esteem.
Thank you for posting.
I hope you both enjoy creating your positivity board
This is a really great and informative post. I never thought about doing a positivity board. I did start a gratitude journal this summer and then I stopped. This post encourages me to get back into my gratitude practice. I deal with self-doubt so having a positivity board will definitely be a way to help me with this. It will also be a fun project to do with my kids. I will definitely bookmark this post so that I can read it again and share it on my blog (if that’s okay with you). I will probably make mine in Notion.
I have problems with self-doubts too, which is why such activities can be so useful. I don’t have an issue with you sharing it
I love this idea for a positivity board and also showing ways to make it online. Canva is a great tool for this. Although I’m not sure if I’ll make one, I’m a bit lazy in this sense, the idea of gathering some positive comments on my blog might help me get through some of the motivational slumps. Your articles are the ones I wait for every week to read. So thank you again.
I’ve struggled with retaining the motivation to keep my blog going from time to time, so doing this myself as a blog focused activity, really helped galvanise me to keep going
This is such a refreshing idea✨
Thank you
Such good timing to read. My daughter is just doing one of these at work. Thank you
Awesome
I love this idea. My mental health hasn’t been great lately, so I think I will do this. Crafting is quite soothing too – something I could probably get my kids involved with. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
I imagine it could be a fun thing to do with the family
I love the idea (and the detailed instructions) for a Positivity Board! I’ve always pictured them as a scissors, cutting, gluing, pasting, messy nightmare. I never even thought about a digital (way less messy) version. Great post. Thanks so much for sharing! ✌️
Sometimes you just don’t have the space to get out the glue and scissors to make one by hand, but that shouldn’t be a barrier to making one
I’ve always heard of vision boards but this is genius! I absolutely love it. It’s a great way to remember that you are a boss + you’ve accomplished something before, so you will definitely accomplish something again. Creating one of these this week! Thanks for this awesome recommendation!
I’m glad this has inspired you to create one!
Oh this is such a nice idea :). I love using positivity and also gratitude as a way to perk yourself up it’s so helpful. I try to do gratitude every evening before bed and intentions in the morning and I really have found it helpful. This is a wonderful post thank you for sharing!
Thank you
Wow. This is beautiful. I’ll really love to make mine. I have a lot of things I’m grateful for.
I hope you do make one then
Absolutely love the idea of a positivity board. I’ve played around with gratitude journals at time, but have never managed to make it into a real habit. This seems like a great alternative to try. Thanks for sharing!
Indeed it is. But don’t give up on establishing a gratitude journalling habit
Aw thank you for featuring one of my comments in your board! I love this idea, we need to take the time to show gratitude and love for positive things in our lives x
How could I not feature such a nice comment
Creating a positivity board is a wonderful idea to show the gratitude the world can give you for what you send out. Many times these things pass us by, therefore it is good to take a moment and realize what we do. Great post as always. Thank you for what you do
So very true
What a great idea.
All too often these days people become obsessed with what they don’t have (and that others do have) rather than being grateful for, and happy with, what they do have. That road leads to perpetual dissatisfaction!
True. But sometimes being dissatisfied can have its uses as it can lead to the motivation to change
what a fun and positive idea! 🙂 it’s great to remind ourselves of the good things.
Indeed it is
You’ve convinced me! It’s a great way to create a better head space and put things into perspective. I like how you tied it into self care and backed it up with science. I’ll be sure to share my work. 🙂
I personally believe a little science is important when making any claim
I love the idea of creating a positivity board and I like that you adding tweets you’re grateful for and achievements you’re proud of to the board. Also thank you for sharing your positivity board!
Thank you commenting