“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
Herm Albright, quoted in Reader’s Digest, June 1995
Though this probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, I’m a fairly negative person. I have this uncanny ability to take the smallest of problems or issues and completely blow them out of proportion. I believe the more commonly used term would be “drama queen”. Label me if you must.
But today I said to myself, “even if the situation is frustrating and aggravating, is it really all that impossible to pull a positive from it?”
Case in point. Today my main sprinkler valve decided to burst – spewing water like a geyser on the side of my house. Ironically, my wife and I had the day off and were testing sprinkler head alignment when the mishap occurred.
And there’s the positive. While it was an inconvenience and incredibly frustrating that I had to spend a part of my day off playing handyman, had we both been at work the water would have continued to pour out like an open fire hydrant until one of us came home – a damaging and costly proposition to say the least.
I realize the example above might seem somewhat lame, but it illustrates my point perfectly. “Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.” Author Unknown
Maybe your body isn’t as perfect as it once was and signs of age have begun taking a toll on you. But when you turn to that special someone in your life, who still adores you as much as the first time they laid eyes on you – there’s the positive.
Perhaps your job lacks any real fulfillment and you often wonder if you’ll ever find that special career you long for. But when you realize the invaluable friendships you’ve made on a personal and intimate level – there’s the positive.
All the negative thinking we practice, day in and day out, is robbing us of “moments” to live and experience and celebrate the many gifts we’ve been given.
When I think of all the times I’ve allowed my negativity to overcome me, I feel a sense of loss over the time I’ve wasted that I’ll never get back again.
So the next time you feel yourself ready to break out into a negative tirade, change the way you’re thinking and ask, “what’s the positive I can pull out of this?”
It may not always seem clear and you might be reluctant to accept it, but it’s there I assure you.
