Along with my body I’ve been working on improving my mind. This is both in the functional sense (reading faster, thinking more clearly, having better focus) and in the focal sense. I’ve come to realize that there’s no point in creating a better body and a longer life if it’s going to be an unhappy one. So I’ve worked hard at improving my mindset.
This has been done via a number of methods. I meditate more. I reorganize my thoughts to favor the positive. I reject negative thoughts and negative conclusions. And the more I do this the more I see things that reinforce a positive point of view.
In the movie Batman Begins, Alfred chides Batman about how he can’t be living a double life if he isn’t living the life of Bruce Wayne. He teases Bruce by saying “Who knows Master Wayne, if you start pretending to have fun, you might have a little by accident.”
Although meant as a playful jab, there’s a certain amount of truth to this. Positivity is infectious. If you start spending your time looking for the positives in life you’ll start seeing them more and more. As Earl Nightingale said “you are now, and you do become, what you think about.”
The more you focus on the positive the more you see positive things. The more positive things you see, the more positive you become. The more positive you become the more you think positively, and the cycle repeats itself. You just have to be open to being positive.
Many will look around at the state of the world, or the state of their life and ask, “what do I have to be positive about?” It’s a great question to ask yourself, if you’re willing to answer it.
So here’s a little challenge for you this week. Keep a little notebook on you. Or if you prefer the tech route, start a new note or document on your phone. I personally have a separate Evernote folder just for this challenge. Every time you have something positive happen to you write it down. It doesn’t have to be anything super special. This is about writing down anything that you feel is a win.
Did someone smile at you for no reason? Write it down. Was the drive home a little quicker than usual, or the traffic a little lighter? Put that on the list. Perhaps you find a penny while walking into work today. That counts too. Anything where the needle moves towards the positive. No matter how small. If you’re not sure if it counts, write it down anyway. Chances are if you had to wonder if it does, you think it could be a win.
After a week, go back and look at your list. If you did a reasonably good job of remembering to write things down I’m betting you have a nice long list. This is what you have to be positive about. Over the next few weeks keep adding to the list. Make it enough of a habit that you enjoy adding entries. Add that you enjoy adding entries onto your list of positivity. There’s really no wrong way to do this other than to not do it.
When you start going back each week and reviewing your list you’ll be amazed at just how many positive things happen to you all the time. Take an example from me today. I got an award at work today. I met a cool bulldog named Leon. A attractive woman looked my way and smiled. The drive home was so easy because the traffic was light. I met my fitness goal of closing all three rings today. That’s five easy to find positives I had today. That’s 35 for the week if I do it every day. That’s a lot of positives that just happen to you if you bother to look.
And again, it’s all about what you focus on. When you keep looking for positives you’ll keep finding them. If you’re looking for positives you’ll also start overlooking negatives because you aren’t focusing on them anymore. At a certain point if you keep looking for positives enough you might even accidentally feel positive. Just kidding, you’ll feel positive but it won’t be an accident. It’ll be a way of life for you.
“You are now, and you do become, what you think about.” Blessed or cursed. Happy or sad. Positive or negative. They’re your thoughts. Choose the ones you want to live the life you desire. It’s all in your hands. Or your mind. However you want to look at it. I recommend looking at it the positive way. Have a great day.
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