The Ups and Downs of Life and the Positive Thinker

One can’t believe in anything unless it agrees with our own sense of reasoning or common sense and value system. There are no magic formulas for being a positive thinker, someone who can see the rose when others see only the thorns. One has to really train the mind to act in a positive way to avoid all the negative chitter chatter that goes around in our heads. In that way we should be able to see the opportunities in front of us rather than the obstacles. A positive person will always believe that nothing is impossible and they will always look for the good in any situation be it a lesson or just stopping us from making a bigger mistake than the one we have perhaps just made.

The problem is to get in this state of mind it takes work. It’s not something that just comes easy to us without any effort. Optimism and contentment come with perseverance in right thought. Everyone is looking for the easy option that’s why we turn to all kinds of things that we perceive as the easy answer as if by magic if we wish for something and want it hard enough it will just come like in a Walt Disney movie or something. However, I’m here to tell you there is no substitute for hard work, practice and action to becoming a positive person. That’s why so many of us falter and slide back into negativity even though we may not see it. There is no easy way to fulfilment.

You can believe in Cosmic Ordering, Talismans or some such thing but without action and work nothing really is going to happen without your input. Action is certainly the key to the lock. Some people will argue and say that some people are just born lucky and more fortunate than others but what is luck? Is there some action involved to this outcome? A known outcome to unknown forces?

Most of us in the Western world are luckier than most since we were born into societies where we have legal systems that work, security, food on the table, free from major health issues and even able to enjoy arts and music. Compare that to the person who has no water, sanitation, food or medical care in some war torn country.

What we complain about sometimes is incredible before we stop to consider someone less fortunate than ourselves. We complain that life is not fair or someone cut us up in traffic or perhaps stolen our car parking space from under our nose. Let it go! Just be thankful the universe has not sought you out to make your world more ‘Fair’ to bring you in line with the majority of individuals in the world who live in that parallel world next to us.

Positive people are lucky people. Not that they magically bring more luck to themselves but by the simple perception of how they really see things. They are the kind of people who through adversity still see the positive and consider themselves fortunate just by a mental shift in thinking and view of life.

I met a man who was paralyzed from the neck down in Cape Town. He said since his accident he felt he was lucky to have found the kind of peace in his life he now knows. He painted with brushes in his teeth the most beautiful pictures and held talks on personal development. He considered that he had achieved more and helped more people in the last few years than his entire life before. He said he was now truly blessed. I was utterly amazed at his positive thinking and outlook. Instead of thinking ‘why me?’ he found something good in his situation and made use of it.

There is an old saying that goes something like ‘I had no shoes so I had the blues, until I walked the street and met the man with no feet’. We should always count our blessings and be grateful for what we have in our lives no what we don’t have.

If you believe you are lucky then you will be lucky with that positive mindset. Things in the world just happen, it’s how we view it that decides our standpoint. The same event can be lucky or unlucky depending on your perceptions. That’s not to say that positive people think everything will just come to them without action or any effort on their part. No, it’s just a way of getting the best out of any outcome leading on with an optimistic mind instead of a black cloud following us everywhere. Positive thinkers learn from their mistakes and put disappointment behind them with the strength and fortitude to continue. They cultivate the habit of seeing the best in a situation and not the worst and that leads to opportunities that they may not have seen otherwise.

So, choose your thoughts wisely, visualize the good and adopt a positive attitude in your thinking. Keep yourself from drifting into the negative. You can’t do it overnight but you can do it. You can begin by starting to ignore all the negativity that we get bombarded with every day with the TV and all the bad news. Check your thoughts constantly and don’t give up easily. If things go wrong it is not confirmation that the negative thinkers were right. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. You choose which suits you better and be positive to all the ups and downs of life. They are there whether you think one way or the other it is only how you see it that changes. That could make all the difference in your life to being happy or miserable. Try it and see for yourself.

Martin Paul