As I have made my way thru life, I have learned a few things about the power of the human mind and the influence our outlook and thinking has upon our daily lives. Some of this was learned from people that I have encountered and things that I have read over the years, but much of it is something that I was blessed to be born with - a generally happy disposition and a positive attitude. Perhaps some of my capability to look at the bright side of things most of the time was developed environmentally, but I believe that some of it is just simply God-given.
I wanted to qualify all of that first before sharing my thoughts on the matter. I am just an average 'joe', not some highly trained psychological professional. The ability to have a positive outlook has had dramatic and amazing affects upon my life. I know for some of us it is easier to be more positive than it is for others. Frankly I know some people that are way more positive than I am and I truly strive to be moreso each day. I understand as well that there are some genetic factors that we have limited to no control over that affect our ability to think in certain ways. BUT, like I mentioned, the brain is a very powerful thing that can be trained. We all have the ability to train our minds to think a certain way. It's like anything else I suppose, to become good at something, it takes effort.
Like each one of us, I too have been thru some very difficult times in my life. It's those times that really and truly taught me the most about myself. It's those times that forced me to manage my thoughts and attitudes and come up with ways to get thru those situations and continue on with each and every day and become better as a result.
A good friend and mentor shared with me a thought about 20 years ago that has been the foundation of my attitude about life and circumstances. I was going thru a difficult period and he said to me: 'Everything happens for a reason, and the reason is always good.' I heard what he had to say, and in the face of nothing else to get me thru what I was dealing with, I considered what he had shared. After some time, I decided that I was going to adopt that philosophy. I had heard many times the phrase 'everything happens for a reason....' It was the second part of that which really stuck with me....'that the reason is always good.'
As time went on, I learned that if I believed in that philosophy day-in and day-out, my outlook and attitude would change. Sure enough, the good in everything began to shine thru regularly. As the years passed I started to preach that same phrase or philosophy to those around me when they were going thru difficult times. What I had learned as well in addition to that philosophy is something I always followed up with - that yes 'Everything happens for a reason, and the reason is always good,' but understand that it may not be apparent that what is happening today is happening for a good reason. Frankly it may be very difficult to believe so at the moment. You just have to believe and some day down the road, maybe next week, next month, or next year, if you truly adopt that philosophy, that you will in fact see what good has come out of what previously occurred that caused you to adopt that belief. It works, if you can train your mind and your thoughts to believe. What happens is that it becomes your truth, and it is astounding the positive impact that it can have upon your life.
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