THE BRIGHTER SIDE

Life's many trials, twists and turns have an inevitable way of shaping us for good or bad, for better or for worse. Sometimes those difficulties and challenges can produce a "down and out" attitude. They can rob us of our self-esteem. They can cause us to view life from a very negative perspective. Since we can't always avoid difficulties, it makes sense to try to use them to our advantage. Yes, to our advantage. But,how do we do that?

We can either allow negative thinking to govern us, or we can choose to take a positive point of view, a futuristic and optimistic perspective in regard to ourselves and our desired outcomes. We could let negative thinking dictate and drown out all our dreams and hammer down all of our hopes, or grasp onto "possibility thinking" with all our might!

Many of us let negative thinking banish any ideas about how we should see ourselves, as the confident and capable individuals that we really are. We can begin to help ourselves by regulating our thinking with new and positive ideas so that we are not victims of the negative perceptions, but victorious over them.

We become our own worst enemy because we constantly beat ourselves down with negative talk and thinking. One of the reasons that we do this is because to change how we think and feel can be such a challenge in itself. To go from negative to positive requires awareness, effort and consistency.

We get frustrated with the idea of the "positive thinking" approach because we very often have to work with our thoughts and the things affecting them at the same time. You may be trying to really think positive and it doesn't appear that everyone and everything else is cooperating with you. The negative thoughts keep coming and it seems like things have not changed, and neither have you. We get frustrated with the effort because the visions and the negative thoughts keep popping into our heads.

As soon as they do, just keep reminding and reminding yourself of your new, positive outlook. Repetition is the key here. You will need to repeat things over and over to yourself until your attitude is affecting your actions, and until you are convinced of your great abilities and capabilities. Keep at it as long as it takes. You say you've tried and you think these methods are faulty because everything isn't positive just because you try to convince yourself that it is? Well, you are so right! It sure isn't. The key to positive thinking is taking a different perspective, and as someone once said "you will never develop eyestrain from developing the habit of looking on the brighter side of things."

There is a brighter side, even if it's not currently in perfect view.

So many things can cause negative thinking; failures, pain, lack of love and acceptance, insecurity and so on. The great news in that positive thinking can open your eyes and help you see a new direction. It can help to raise your level of understanding of who you are as a person and how very special you are. Try it. Try it, again. And, again. It will work for you. I'm positive that it will!

S.R.F.