A Positive Outlook

The older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. When I look at the date, I have a hard time believing it is already 2012. It feels like only yesterday that I was still bright eyed and busy tailed, ready to take on the world. Today, I am probably a little too cynical and sarcastic, but I am still ready to take on the world and try to change it for the better.

As I get older, I have found it challenging to remain a positive person. After going through some struggles during the last handful of years, I have crossed a threshold on my path and have started to become more aware of my outlook and strive to remain positive as much as I can. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am not all sunshine and rainbows, but I think I have a better outlook on life than I did even one year ago.

We all have control over the vibe we put off and most people can pick up on the positivity or negativity pretty quickly. We all know people who land in both camps. There are people who are looking to complain about anything on any given day and those who may complain a little and then put their head down to get to work. The rarest people we find are those who take everything in stride, nothing really seems to bother them and they go about their life as if everything is perfect.

One of my goals is to become one of these people. I think (hope) I have moved from the first person who just looks for something to complain about to the person who complains about some things, but not other things they would have complained about in the past. I try to take things less personally. If someone does something to make my life or work harder, I will remind myself they aren't doing it on purpose and just do what needs to be done.  I would like to get to a point where I just don't get frustrated, just roll with the punches and don't let these things bother me.

I know very few of us get to this point completely, but the more we can approach it, the better off we will be. As we work to approach this point, we can help the people around us become more positive. We just have to be careful the negative people do not pull us in their direction. It can be tough to remain positive around people who are constantly negative, but it is possible. For many of us, being positive takes work. Our society glorifies negativity, through the news and talk radio and television, nearly everything we hear or see is about how things aren't working well.

We just have do what we can to focus on the positive things happening in our life and in the world around us. Slow down and enjoy a beautiful spring day. Spend a little time every day thinking about what you are grateful for. Start a habit of writing down three good things that happen each day (or shares these things with your family at dinner). Start expressing gratitude to the people around you. Smile more. Exercise a little more. Read more. Turn off the television and experience life more. When you start to feel negative, smile and think about things that make you happy. Catch yourself when you are complaining and think about how you feel when you do it. If all of us just focus a little on being more positive each day, think about how much different this world could be. What do we have to do to get there?