Sometimes life will serve us all with conditions that may seem impossible to think positively about, but this is almost rarely the case.

I know this because within three months of each other, both of my childhood dogs and my music teacher, who was also a close family friend, passed away.

However, in the midst of school resuming, I had no time to devote to truly getting over these things, and depression and anxiety soon dominated my life.

I began to see a therapist because I knew I wasn’t feeling up to par, and she’s taught me how to change my negative thought patterns and to put things into perspective.

We could all stand to be more positive, so here are some tips for doing just that the next time you start to see a little too much of Holden Caulfield in yourself.

#1. Observe.

The first step in becoming a more…