Making way is the practical half. Nothing gets released in the abstract. You clear a space, and the space is what invites the other thing in.
It's the difference between deciding to be less bitter and actually calling the person you've been rehearsing arguments with for a year. One is a mood. The other is a room emptied out so a table will fit.
Negativity isn't a character flaw to be scrubbed off. Usually it's a set of stories that took up residence because nothing else claimed the floor. Move something better in, a walk, a friendship, one honest sentence, and there's simply less room available to them.