Looking on the Bright Side

Lately I have had the opportunity to reflect on having a positive attitude. You can call it "glass half full/glass half empty" or any of the other common cliches that exist.

What it really amounts to is that every moment we live is an opportunity. We cannot always control what happens to us. What we do have control over is how we react to those occurrences in our lives.

I have known some very positive people over the years. These are the folks I used to think of as "too happy" or "unrealistic". They never complain when something goes poorly. They are invariably pleasant to those around them. Many have overcome amazing odds and have added so much to our world despite harrowing circumstances that have happened in their lives.

I have also encountered my share of the folks who look at the glass as half empty. Everything that happens is filtered through the lens of "my life is so bad, things don't go well for me, it's not fair....." As these folks complain, it seems more and more negative things DO happen to them. It's as if negativity begets more negativity - almost as if the universe sends them each day what they send out. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, and they can say "See! I told you my life was terrible!"

I have, during my life, waffled between these two positions. I definitely spent my share of time in the half empty court.

I have made a decision to no longer live there. I decide how I feel and react every day, no one else. I can choose, each and every day, how my day will go. Whether I run out of gas, or the cafeteria closes before I get my lunch, I can choose my reaction.

This is invariably a process. It has helped that many of us at work have joined "A Complaint Free World" together. The aim is to learn, together, to eliminate pointless complaining from our day to day lives. This process does seem to help, since we are all working on it together. Having the visual, and the process of moving the purple bracelet from my right wrist (right attitude) to my left upon indulging my complaining really helps to illustrate just how much I was complaining each day!

And so, I will continue to look for the positive. I will keep finding the silver lining. I will continue to choose to avoid negativity. And I will STOP once and for all throwing "Oh Poor Me, life doesn't go the way I want it to" out into the Universe. Because I am a firm believer that the Universe operates like a giant boomerang.

What you throw out there comes right back atcha so watch what you're dishing out folks!