This should come as no shock to you now, unless you’re reading this newsletter for the first time today, that we’re pretty positive people (love a good use of alliteration). I’d also like to think that we’re even more optimistic than we are positive (which, to be definitive, is the thought that the future will contain all kinds of great things rather than the focus of right now).
This isn’t always an easy choice for us or for anyone, for that matter. There are a lot of negative things we can place our attention on, which can lead to a pessimistic view of the future. As Murphy reminds us, “What can go wrong, will”, which should keep us all from saying, “How much worse can it get?” Pretty easy to be pessimistic when you do the math…or watch the news.
Pessimism becomes a pretty easy landing pad when the feeling of overwhelm sets in. I like to think of optimism vs. pessimism as a “big picture” point of view, but just like anything in the future it starts with all the things happening (to us, for us, around us, near us) today. If we can start to focus on our daily actions, those which accumulate over time, we can change the outcome of the future. We can learn to control what we can control and let go of that which we cannot. Our daily actions starts with our focus; what lens are we looking through?
It is from this viewpoint that we arrive at the best choice you can make all day, which is the choice to be positive rather than the default response to be negative.
It’s the harder choice! Look at how easily people complain, gossip, bitch, whine, throw their hands up, shake their head, hang their head, or just give up completely.
It’s harder to dust ourselves off and look up. It’s easier to make an excuse to quit than it is to make an excuse to “win,” which may be as simple (and complex) as getting back up and going again.
Flex the “positivity” muscle; it won’t work everytime, but making a habit of trying will improve the behavior, making your default choice positivity over the long run.
Today is (going to be) the best day ever because you’re going to make it that way.
