Have you ever noticed the great paradox of life – being negative does not take any effort in the meantime staying positive requires qute a bit of sweat?

Convenient laziness

I meet many people who constantly complain, blame others and are high caliber victims. It’s not because their life is somehow worse but because, in my opinion,  they are plain lazy!

Have you noticed how much effort it takes to be grumpy on a bad hair day? Or to be annoyed when it starts raining and your umbrella is home? Or… to stay moody when everything goes the wrong way? Well I will tell you – 0! Why? Because all of the above mentioned situations are called „bad“ or „negative“ and therefore cause negative reaction. But.. who decides whether one situation is „bad“ or „good“, „negative“ or „positive“?

Who told you that a rainy day/missed flight/being late to work/losing somehing or someone  is a bad thing per se? I can go even further and start talking about breaking bones, car accidents and other „officially negative stuff“. The answer is – many people! I know, I hear that too often too. The universal truth is that life is the way it is: neither good nor bad however we tend to label our  situations as „negative“ or „positive“. There is always a reason for that, of course, but let’s not go there now – it’s worth another post.

When there is a will there is a way. Always!

Since we are the ones responsible for labeling we can easily initiate the change. It doesn’t take a thousand years or a rocket science. It all starts with a choice (= conscious thought) followed by the action. Then action if repeated again (and again and again…) becomes a habit. Habit becomes a practice, which becomes the way of living and then BAM – you’re a natural optimist 🙂

Let’s face it, in all „unpleasant“ situations it takes effort and action to (re)act differently – to start dancing in the rain, to smile at the colleague who accidentally spilled coffee on your new shirt or to see a positive in every single situation. Nobody said it was easy, especially on the days when everything seems to be falling into pieces. But with a bit of effort life becomes less dramatic and way more fun. All those situations do nothing more that test our creativity and encourage us to grow – how can this be „negative“?

It took me some time to become an optimist. It all started with a fantastic positivity challenge: every day for a week (initially) when the negative thought came to my mind I had to a) notice it and b) consciously transform it into a positive one. In the beginning it was annoying I admit. Then at a certain point I had to face the truth that the majority of my thoughts were negative rather than positive. That was a shock – big enough to start changing. What started as a game became a habit and then one day I noticed that it became my way of living..

Use of your brain!

I tend to think that we all are naturally born positivists and optimists – we all have it! We just tend to forget it. And here to the rescue comes our brain! Yes, it is as simple as it sounds – use your brain, that’s all you need! Be conscious, be present – notice what you think and take responsibility for it. It’s either you’re in control or you’re controlled – make a choice! Just remember, one smart choice might lead to a habit and habits rule our lives 🙂

So the next time when everything „is falling apart“ and you’re about to complain – don’t be lazy, smile and challenge yourself to play the game!