Positive energy is a powerful thing that can make us and the people around us feel inspired. Giving off good vibes will automatically have a positive effect on you, and may help the people around you to feel happier and more optimistic, making life more enjoyable for everyone. Once you learn how to give off good vibes, the world is basically your oyster. Or any other shellfish you prefer.

Here’s how:

Find positive energy within yourself.

It’s a cliché that you have to be happy in yourself before you can make someone else happy, but there is some truth to it. Positivity is contagious, so if you can work on your inner feelings of joy and connectedness, this is what you will project to the world.

Rasheeda Khan, a junior at Niles North, said, “Self-care always helps me feel positive, especially after a long day.”

You don’t always need to be full of joy as you skip through the yellow brick road, but being able to see the bright side to things that seem dismal, and really believing that you will get through any hardship will help you feel better mentally. Always thinking negatively can make you see the world with a tainted lens, and can give off the same energy to the people around you. Positivity is contagious, but so is negativity. Even simply smiling can pass on positive energy. According to Adrienne Wood, a Ph.D. student in psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “When you see a facial expression and you want to know what it means, you recreate that expression in your brain.”

Find positive energy within others.

While you should not self criticize, do not criticize anyone else either. Everyone has their own story, and judging them for yourself can make you think negatively about people, hindering your positive energy. Focus on what makes the people around you great, and you’ll naturally give off a friendly, positive vibe.

“When you reflect positive vibes back to people based on their own words, they feel as though the positive vibes are coming from within them, rather than from the outside,” Joy Rains, author of Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind, said. “People will perceive you as having positive energy, since your presence awakens something positive within them.”

Be understanding, but remain your positive self.

If someone opens up to you about an issue they are facing, giving off positive energy does not mean telling them to suck it up and be happy. Listen to them and empathize with them. Understanding what someone else is going through can help you see the positivity in other people, and show other people the positivity within yourself. Think and act positively towards them and towards the situation. Be gentle, but don’t get dragged down into their negative state. Your positivity can easily spread to them!

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Be in the moment.

To be mindful means to be aware and conscious of what is going on, and most people are too busy being focused on the past or the future to be aware and conscious of the now. Staying in the moment can help you find positivity in situations that may seem dire, and your presence may bring someone next to you back into the moment. On the other hand, being distracted can bring negativity to a situation.

“Things like looking at your phone during discussions, complaining about an event or person, or being withdrawn from others are creating nothing but negative energy,” says personal development coach Meiyoko Taylor. “These are quick ways for people to run the other way and will not produce any positive outcome whatsoever.”

Communicate.

Communication really is key. Communicate with your friends to make sure they’re okay. If there is an issue in your life you want to talk about, communicate that to someone you trust to listen. Most importantly, if you or anyone you know is under an overwhelming amount of negative stress or is in a bad situation, do not try to handle it on your own. Safety comes first, and communication comes with safety. Tell a trusted adult if a negative situation is getting out of hand.

“The most important thing is that we, as a community, are communicating, and making sure everyone is safe…” Laura Bolech, the Assistant Principal of Student Services at Niles North, said, “We emphasize that if anyone, an adult or a student, starts to feel stressed, or overwhelmed, or as though we aren’t sure how to approach a circumstance or a problem, that we are communicating that to someone we trust in the school environment or in the home environment. And from there we try to find ways that stress can be managed effectively.”

Being positive yourself will automatically pass your positivity to the people around you. Both you and the people you know will be affected in a way that will make life much more enjoyable.