Living a positive life
Just the other day I was reminded that life is too short to ponder on what has been, but rather focus on what will be. I had time to reflect back on my life and all the blessings I have received.
I know it sounds rather like a cliche but honestly, I just couldn’t be happier and as the saying goes, count your blessings. Still, I had to admit, never did I overlook my challenges and hardships over my blessings.
In life, we tend to always focus on the bad rather than the good and like many others, I have tended to complain and nag about what we can’t or don’t get instead of what we already have. Humans are subject to yearning for greater things in life, be it materialistic or even affection from others. What ever it may be, appreciating what you have at the moment is crucial for living a positive life. I am not saying one should not strive to achieve greater things but that learning to actually love what you have, is a step in living a positive life. And by positive I mean having a content picture of what life is all about.
Avoid having negative thoughts about life, your surrounding and most importantly, yourself. Remember any achievement helps disprove your insecurity. If you think you will flop at the next tennis practice with your buddies, remember other sports that you are good at and felt you were the star of the game.
Consider alternative explanations. If you probably haven’t heard anything yet from that job prospect, it only means God has other plans for you and most often than not, a much better job position later on.
Whatever mistakes you have made up until now are off the table, the only thing that matters from this point on is how you move forward starting today. Henry Ford once said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” So instead of giving up, start something that failure, or fear of it, kept you from pursuing in the first place. As the saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.Always remember to smile and laugh everyday and above all, be positive and act positively as often as you can.
Starting today, begin the process of doing more of what you love and what makes you happy versus what sucks and what drains you.Colin Wright said “You have exactly one life in which to do everything you’ll ever do. Act accordingly.” You only live once so if ever you wanted to accomplish your goals before you die, start surrounding yourself with those who say “if not, why not?” instead of only asking “why?”
Learn from your mistakes then let go.
We all make mistakes, that is the beauty of life. We are here to learn. Identify a moment from your past that is still haunting you and set aside some time to really analyze why it is bothering you and extract from that situation as many possible positive lessons that you can. Use those lessons to improve your life from that point forward and put the past to rest.
Another gesture many people tend to forget is kindness. Always try to be kind. Never underestimate the power of a smile, a kind gesture, sympathetic word or a listening ear – all of which are easy to give and cost you nothing.
You never know what someone right next to you is going through, and if it will be the difference between a craptastic day and one filled with a little sunshine and hope, then don’t keep back on a kind word.
And most importantly, if you want to continue living a positive life, always be grateful and pray, for without prayer, living a positive life is as dry as the Namib Desert!
