Staying Positive When Times Are Tough
If you let what you see and hear every day influence the way you feel, then you might struggle to stay positive in these troubled times.
Sensationalism sells, so bad news, not good news is the content of most front line stories, whether on TV, radio, in the paper or on the web. When was the last time you remember an uplifting story hitting the headlines?
If you watch and listen to that sort of content regularly, how can you stay positive? You could decide not to listen to radio news, turn off the TV when the news comes on, be careful which sections of the paper you read, or just not read one at all. If some earth-shattering event takes place, you can be sure that someone will tell you.
So how can you get positive vibrations happening in your life if you are surrounded by people full of doom and gloom? Here are a few suggestions that people have found useful; it would not take you long to find others that appeal to you as an individual.
Listen to music, go for a walk, look at flowers in bloom in people's gardens, hear birds singing, find a park where children are playing and listen to their laughter. Maybe there is a pond with ducks; see how eagerly they greet visitors! Now, do not be all negative and say they are just looking for food; of course they are, but let them entertain you with their antics anyway.
Phone a friend, pay a visit, go out for a cup of coffee together and really listen to what they are saying to you. Often when we hear the troubles someone else has, we realize that we would not swap our problems for theirs and this helps us to be happier with our lot.
Feel grateful for all the good things in your life and do not focus an areas you are not happy about.
The late Zig Ziglar, a motivational speaker acclaimed throughout the world and famous for the saying, "have an attitude of gratitude" also said "the more you are grateful for what you have, the more you will have to be grateful for."
This idea of feeling grateful for what you have was also highlighted by Oprah Winfrey who used to urge her viewers to keep a Gratitude Journal. Another variation is to jot down three things you feel grateful for just before you go to bed, or perhaps when you get up in the morning.
How you feel when you first get up can often color your whole day. If you have to go to a job you dislike, you are quite likely to start out feeling negative and stay that way all day. Is there much chance of feeling good by evening? If you can hear rain and you have to walk to a bus-stop, do you feel good straight away or do you feel grumpy because maybe your clothes or your feet will get wet?
Try replacing these automatic negative reactions with positive ones by remembering that you do have a job and the income it brings when many other worthy people do not. Perhaps think instead that without the rain, water supplies would dry up and crops would not grow, flowers would not look so bright and cheerful in gardens as you pass by.
Zig Ziglar told a story about a woman who had complained to him very bitterly about her job and co-workers. He advised her to write down whatever positives she could think of, such as the regular weekly income, the benefits the job brought and vacation time, then stare into a mirror every day and tell herself how much she loved her job.
When he ran into her again six weeks later, she reported that she was doing wonderfully well and was amazed at how much the people she worked with had changed!
This is the power of attitude. The wonderful thing about attitude is that you have absolute power over your own. You can change it any time you want to, you do not need permission from anyone or approval from anyone; your attitude about anything and everything is your own choice.
Yes, times are tough for many people; those who have lost jobs, those will poor health and big medical bills, those who have lost loved ones; the list can go on and on. Every person faces challenges of some kind during their lifetime; it is by overcoming these challenges that you become a better person, more compassionate, more forgiving, more understanding and less judgmental about others.
