http://simonashley.me.uk/2009/04/02/hello-world/ aka the power of positive thinking
So I stumbled upon this from twitter, one of those strange happen upons where you find a gem and wasn’t really looking. I can’t say what his fellow says any better, so I’ll comment upon it for myself. I find that I tend to have a positive outlook on life.
However… I have several people in my extended family that constantly act like their dog just got ran over AND they just lost their job AND they just found out a close personal friend died. I find those people with a constant “look at the negative” side annoying, they really tend to drag down the mood, if you know what I mean. Of course I find those that are overwhelming happy all the time annoying too, so what does that say about me?
At any rate, while I may have a positive outlook on life for myself, what about a positive outlook for other people?
There are times, when I look at the actions of those around me and find myself critical (and in some cases to the extreme). An example is this post in fact. I am being critical of those who appear to have a negative outlook on life. Should I be positive about their negative outlook? Or, what about the petite blond female in the over-sized SUV that pulled into my lane the other day without even apparently looking? Should I be positive about her? I know I was positive about the situation because I was positively thrilled that I managed to stop the motorcycle AND avoided getting hit by her. Overall, the situation could be much worse. I’ve have the brake line bust on my truck – positive about that because I had just finished unloading about a ton of gravel. Applied for a job, didn’t get it, I can be positive about that too.
But when people do things that are, at least to me, idiotic or could have been avoided with just a little forethought… I get critical. Perhaps it’s because I would be extremely critical of myself in that same situation…. I’d still find a positive side of it, but I would be critical. So, I guess the challenge to me is to less critical of myself and by association, other people and improve upon the overall positive outlook.
What say you?
