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In life you will meet two types of people. There is the type of person that good things
happen to. And there is the type that
bad things happen to. The truth is good
and bad things happen to everyone. It is
life. There is no getting around
it. But it is how you choose to let
these things effect your life that defines what group we are categorized
into. Do you choose to focus and dwell
on the negative? Or do you choose to
focus on and reach for the positive?
If I poured you a lovely glass of sweet red wine and I only
filled it half way (which would only ever happen if the bottle was finished). Would you say that the glass was half full,
or half empty? Wine is a bad example;
I’ve lost my train of thought. I’ll be
right back once I fill up the rest of my half full glass of wine… ok better.
I’d like to think of myself as a “half full” type of
person. I think I am a pretty positive
person. I strive to be positive in
everything I do. Things tend to work out
for me, and when they don’t I believe that they weren’t supposed to. So I try not to dwell on them.
I wasn’t always this way you know. I had to train myself to be this way. It took me a long time, but eventually
positive thinking became very natural to me.
I used to be a dweller. I’d focus
so intently on the negative in my life, that sadly, I’m ashamed to admit; I
missed a lot of the positive. Bad things
just kept happening to me.
“Why me?” I would ask
myself over and over. Until one day my
wise mother told me exactly why. It was
my negative attitude. (It was also a
series of poor choices causing the bad things to happen, but that is a story
for another day.) I realized (with a not
so gentle nudge in the right direction from my mother) that I had to make a change
in the way I viewed my life. My mum
advised me to first fake positivity, and make a conscious effort to be
positive… and then eventually it would come naturally to me. Turns out she was right, after years of
forcing myself to think positively, one day I realized, I wasn’t trying any
more. It was how I thought
naturally.
Things began working out for me. Or did they?
I really don’t know, because when they didn’t work out, I was positive
about that too. Telling myself that it
wasn’t supposed to work out. Then later
when something good would happen, I would remind myself of the “bad” thing that
happened before and I would think, “see, if that hadn’t happened, then this
wouldn’t be happening now!”
Always-positive thoughts.
Now and then negative thoughts will creep in. I am human after all, and things aren’t
exactly gumdrops and rainbows for me all the time. It is normal to feel sad or down from time to
time. It’s just important to not let
those feelings destroy me, like they used to.
I deal with them (maybe have a wee cry) and move on. I try to solve my problems and work through
them with a positive attitude. If
something is broken. FIX IT!! Stop complaining and… Do something about it!
Last week I spoke about a few of my “demons”. I shared how miserable I had been about my
phone. Using it made me mad. Looking at it would get me down and remind me
that I had worked hard at university, and I am still broke and struggling and
perhaps going no where in this career (lots of problems with translating my
degree, etcetera). I did something about
it! I bought an iPhone. Yes it hurt me a little financially. But no amount of money is worth me being so
miserable. I will make sacrifices for
it. I love my new phone! So happy!
I feel like I earned it. I feel
like my years of hard work were worth it.
That feeling, my friends; is priceless.
I also spoke about my lack of motivation with the gym. I complained that my new tutoring job had
taken away from my workout two days a week.
Did I give up and dwell on the negative?
NO! I did something about
it! I now get up very (very) early on
those two days, and work out in the morning before I go to work. Doing that has given me the motivation I had
lost. And I am feeling positive about my
weight loss goals. (Because there is no
other possible way to feel!)
I’m here in America without my Mum, without my sisters and
without my step dad and puppy. I could
focus and dwell on the fact that I am without them. I could let my loneliness eat at me, and
allow my missing them to consume me. But
I don’t. That would be focusing on the
negative. Instead, I focus on the things
I love about being here. I take comfort
in and I am thankful that I have loved ones TO MISS. It means that I have love. For that I am so lucky! I am thankful for instant messaging and
Skype, so that I can speak to them as often as I need to. Yes, I need them here. I can’t imagine living without them for much
longer. But I am positive it will all be
worth it in the end. They will be here,
and we will all be together. Everything
will work out! It has to! There is no doubt in my mind that it
will. None whatsoever, and I say that
with absolute certainty! Positive
thinking is a powerful thing!
What type of person are you?
Is your glass half full? Or do
you focus on the negatives in your life.
If you are a positive thinker then I commend you. I know it is not always easy to stay positive
through everything.
If you are a negative thinker and you just can’t understand
why bad things keep happening to you.
Then do me a favor and try to think positive. Take my mum’s advise, do what I did and watch
your life change. Witness your own
emotional growth in happiness. Experience
life in the upward stream and enjoy life once again. Trust me, your happiness is up to you. You control your own life. If things aren’t going your way…
DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
I'd like to dedicate this blog entry to my wonderful mum, without whom I would not be the positive, strong and (somewhat) independent person I am today. Thank you for every bit of advise you've ever given me. I don't know what I would do without you, and I love you so much! I miss you every day, and I'm counting down the days until we can all be here, together.
"From scraped up knees, to the birds and the bees. You were always there for me!" - Caroline Craft
