Easier said than done but the alternative is not an option for me and shouldn't be for you.
Consider this: of all the positive people in the world many were never positive in their early life. They became positive. How?
In my experience there are levels of positive mind. The problem with a prominently negative attitude with bursts of drive and optimism is that one can believe they are positive but haven't undergone the full change. So the full change is what I'm talking about.
The turnaround can come from shock as it did for me in 1982 as a young insurance salesman attending a motivation lecture. Google Topic: 30 minutes can change your life- beyondblue , or it can come from having a tutor mentor or reading. It can even come from inner strength tired of the effects of a give up frame of mind.
It is never a bad time to change for the better. The ultimate focus is maximum thought pattern change from negative thoughts to nearly always positive. "Nearly" because grief, the requirement of it, following trauma is hard to find positivity at that time
Such change is obvious to us that are there already.
You missed a bus...if you didn't you wouldn't have seen the beauty of watching colourful butterflies circling a bush.
You observe someone racially abused on a train you intervene. You leave and realise the positive is the smile the victim gave you
You get a speeding fine. Well that will force me to slow down. It could save a life.
You break you leg. You are on crutches. Some people never stand up.
I tripped over a few days ago. I laughed...I couldn't fall any further...
Being ultimately positive doesn't cure depression. You have to allow for those times. As positive as I am I still need to accept that those days I'm almost debilitated need to be endured. It helps to know that as my depressive episode subsides I'll be back on track and living happily again. It gives me more hope.
Being positive also means your attitude is infectious. You not only recognise a negative thinker immediately, you strive to rub some of your enthusiasm onto them.
Sadly, it often falls on deaf ears. Change for some is not possible in their eyes. Yet it can start in an instant, to embrace all things in life with vigor.
Cloudy days abound. Wait, that cloud break will come and shine on you. Or it will remain cloudy, gloomy and without hope.
I decided to focus on the moment the sun bathes my soul.
You can to.
Tony WK
