“F” Me? “F” You!

“F” stands for “FANTASTIC” in my world. No negative connotations here! The trick is to stay positive, find the good in everything. Being pessimistic only brings feelings of depression and worry. This is a self-destructive mindset, creating misery and exhaustion, it is a self-defeating premise.

Think about it, does telling yourself (something will probably go wrong), make you feel good? I very much doubt it. Why then do so many of us constantly tell ourselves and whoever will listen, just how bad things are or probably are going to be. The world is full of so much negativity that gets thrown at us every day in the news. Do we really need our minds piling on?

Let’s try to turn this around. Instead of seeing all doom and gloom in everything, how about looking at it from a different point of view? We’ve all heard the old saying “If life throws you lemons, make lemonade.” Stop and think what this is really trying to say, if some unexpected or unwanted circumstance is put in front of you, take it as a challenge and brainstorm ways of either improving on your endeavor or sitting back and relaxing with a nice cool glass of lemonade. Just kidding! What I meant to say is taking what’s been thrown at you and making any adjustments necessary to either improve or alter your plans to make the best of the situation. Look at every situation in a positive light, see opportunity in every obstacle.

Think how fantastic you’d feel, how incredibly creative you could be. Change happens every day, in everything. Nothing ever really stays the same in this world. You may not notice the changes because they move so slowly (every journey begins with one step), or are so small (remember the snowball effect), or because you just aren’t paying attention, but the changes are happening just the same. You are changing all the time whether you realize it or not. Why not put forth a little effort and concentrate on the positives in life? Change happens, and change is good, help change along, let it work for you!

Every day is a new day, if you don’t like something from yesterday make any necessary changes or adjustments today in order to reset your life to follow the path you choose. You may not be able to repair it immediately, but the sooner you start to make the adjustments the quicker you’ll see the results.
If you have a tragedy in your life such as the loss of a friend or loved one, instead of dwelling on what you’ll miss or other negative thoughts, think of what you’ve gained from just knowing this person or the experience you’ve learned from the situation. The best way to honor someone is to make use of whatever you’ve learned from them and come to the realization that their teachings stay alive as long as you use them or impart them to others. Your actions will mean more to them then your inaction. Their death will truly remain a tragedy if nothing that was learned through their life is made use of and passed on to others. Keep their spirits alive by keeping their teachings alive. Something positive can be learned from every situation, you just need to look hard enough.

The loss of a job just gives you the opportunity to take what you’ve learned and expand on your options. Experience gained from your former job can be used in your next job or occupation. There is something to be learned from everything, if you don’t learn from every experience you are simply wasting time and life is too short for that. It’s never too late to learn and never too early to make use of what you’ve learned. Get started today, it’ll make your tomorrows brighter.

The trouble with starting something is that once the initial excitement is over, we tend to lose our enthusiasm for the project and many times the project stagnates or just disappears. An example would be starting an exercise program. One day you’re excitedly working out, feeling good about yourself for having the drive to put forth the effort to get into shape. Not many days or weeks later you tell yourself “I don’t feel like working out today, I think I’ll just skip it today and get back at it tomorrow.” The thing is, tomorrow never comes, all the hard work you’ve accomplished to that point goes for naught.

What if we could prolong that initial startup excitement and hold onto it forever? Do you think we may be able to accomplish a little more of our original goals? With the ability to keep, and build on that excitement, we could do some astounding things. How do we accomplish this feat?

Let’s take every day one day at a time. Treat each day as the start of a new project, it may not be a new project, but since everything is in a constant state of flux the situation has had to of changed at least somewhat. No two days are exactly the same, and we have no idea how this new day will lay out or what new and exciting things may come about. If you started an exercise program yesterday, make today the first day of the workout, and then make tomorrow the first day of the workout. Continue doing this every day, tell yourself, “I’m excited because this is the start of my exercise program.” They say that it takes 30 days to create a habit, let’s make it a good habit, and by starting fresh every day let’s continue to keep that initial enthusiasm and see our projects through to completion, and beyond!

Use this same concept for anything you want to accomplish in your life. I used the exercise program as an example because it’s something that everyone could relate to. The whole idea is to keep that child-like; Santa is coming excitement, in everything you do. Wouldn’t life be fantastic if everyday felt like Christmas?

Speaking of Christmas, how much better off would the world be if everyone had the Christmas spirit every day? Think of how you feel when it really hits you! You slow your life down and take the time to really see the beauty and wonder in the world. A feeling of joy and contentment fills your insides, and you feel as though everyone is your friend. You feel a warm glow from within you and can’t help but smile. Others around you see your smile and pleasant manner and smile back at you.

Happiness can be infectious! I see a world of one race, no color, no prejudice. There is only one true race after all, the human race! If we all treated each other in the spirit of Christmas this world could indeed be a paradise.