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This Post by Justin Dixon Photo Courtesy of H. Koppdelaney

You can’t help the circumstances around you all of the time. People with authority will make bad decisions, emergencies will happen, and even the best laid plans will sometimes go very wrong. What you do however control is how you handle these situations, and this effects more than just you. Sometimes we just need a reason to keep on going. Sometimes we just need a reason to keep our chins up. So that is what I’ve put together today. Whether you’ve just had a rough day, or have not been well lately may your spirit be lifted.

1. Being Positive is Good for Your Health. Its not just being healthy that improves your mood. Keeping a focus on positive things reduces stress which wears away at your immune system, and takes out your reserves. So while it is no substitution for healthier eating and exercise your emotional outlook effects what chemicals run through your body when, and this effects how well your body can fight disease.

2. Finding the Positive Amongst the Negative is a Trait of Leadership. If you are always looking at the most negative sides of things than you end up freezing up and stopping yourself short of the answers that you are really capable of finding. This kills your chances of standing out.

3. Staying positive encourages others. What we say and how we carry ourselves is a key part of our attitude, and attitudes are contagious. When one person is ready to give up and won’t let themselves be cheered up it can be very discouraging for those around them. Yet on the same note, if one person chooses to look forward and focus on the best they empower not only themselves but everyone around them. This does not mean to be fake. If you feel sad than that is okay, but feeling sad does not mean that you have to give up on all hope. You can show someone that even when they are hurt that there is always hope.

4. Focusing on positive things helps you find positive things. If you spend a day thinking about the color blue you will probably notice a number of blue objects throughout the day, but how many red objects would you notice? You would see the same number of red objects as one would normally see, but with your focus being on blue things, you will be much more likely to notice and remember blue things. This principle also works for positivity. If you are focused on keeping your chin up you are going to be much more likely to recognize more reasons to keep your chin up.

5. There is always something to be positive about. If you are really having troubles finding something positive than start giving thanks. A grateful mind becomes a joyful mind. If you can’t think of anything consider this quote.

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”~Buddha

Now there are still so many reasons to be positive beyond what I have just listed here, and several ways to do it. Two of my favorite methods are looking for what things are going right (there is always something), and focusing strictly on the action that I can take one step at a time. The latter involves realizing that you don’t have to make everything better at once, and that you need to let go of everything except for the small bit you can do now. Just a little bit at a time like this can make a huge difference in the long run. As for the first exercise listed I’d like to invite you to do this in the comments. I’ll start: even in the worse economy there are still opportunities, as cold as it is outside there is a warm apartment for me to come home to, I am healthy and getting healthier, we have power today over who we will become tomorrow, and there is still an order to this universe – something always works out. Your turn.

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