Tag: Glass Half Full

Choose Your Thoughts

“I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life—whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.”

~Elizabeth Gilbert

         Life and consequently happiness is all about perspective. You can be miserable because you choose, yes it’s a choice, to look at every bad or unfortunate circumstance as a curse or omen for a miserable life. Likewise, you can choose to perceive every unfortunate circumstance as an opportunity to grow. It can be as simple as a lesson on what isn’t working. You can choose to speak positively to those who don’t speak highly of you. You can choose compassion over cruelty. The point is you ALWAYS have the power to choose your thoughts.

Optimism

“Optimists enrich the present, enhance the future, challenge the improbable and attain the impossible”

― William Arthur Ward

           Life is all about the lens you choose to view it from. And at the end of the day, the quality of your life and your happiness stems from your perspective. You ALWAYS have the choice to see the positive in whatever life throws your way. Just like you can choose to only see the negative of every situation. So, each morning make a promise to greet the new day with a smile and optimistic attitude that you can achieve the impossible. For if you dream it, you can achieve it.

Positive Action

“People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action.”

― Steve Maraboli

          What you get out of life ultimately depends on your attitude and perspective. If you choose to only see the glass as half empty and treat life with a negative attitude, then you will likely have a miserable life. Whereas, if you choose to greet life with a positive, can and will do attitude, you will find yourself much happier even though things aren’t perfect. So, each morning choose to embrace all that the day may encompass good and not so good and greet the sunrise with a smile.

Your Mind

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.”

― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

         Never underestimate the power of your mind. For your attitude and perspective determines what kind of life you have. So, work to cultivate positivity within your every thought and choose to always see the good in life.

Perspective

“People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.

An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.

When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie.

Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!”

― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

        The amazing thing about life is the ability to choose your perspective. At all times, you get to choose from which lens you view life from. You can choose to only see the negative. Or, you can choose to see both the good and not so good aspects of life and work towards finding solutions to effect change for the greater good. As always, the choice is up to you.

The Journey of Today

“The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday.”

― Steve Maraboli,
Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

           To move forward in life, you must close the door on yesterday’s regrets. For in order to fully embrace what today has to offer, you must free yourself of the chains tying you to your past. Open your heart and mind to new opportunities and new beginnings.

Where To Look

“What looks like garbage from one angle might be art from another. Maybe it did take a crisis to get to know yourself; maybe you needed to get whacked hard by life before you understood what you wanted out of it.”

― Jodi Picoult

         I’ve said it countless times. Life is all about the lens you choose to view it from. You can choose to only see the bad in every circumstance or you can choose to see the good. Whenever a negative situation happens, try to stop and say, “ok, what is the takeaway from this situation? Where is the silver lining?” Search for something good in every situation…for every bump and mountain we encounter in life defines our very essence.

The Good Side

“It takes no more time to see the good side of life than to see the bad.”

― Jimmy Buffett

       Life is about which lens you choose to view it from. You can choose to always see the negative or you can choose to find the positive in every situation. And you will find that life is often more bearable and enjoyable when you choose to see the glass as half full. So, take the good from all of life’s moments and leave the rest.

Focus on Your Future

“There are times in our lives when we have to realize our past is precisely what it is, and we cannot change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doing that, we can change the future.”

― Eleanor Brown, The Weird Sisters

         Every person’s past is filled with pain, heartbreak and regrets. But, it does no good to live in the past saying I wish I could change what I did. No, the way to move forward is to change the lens from which you’re viewing your past. Choose not to look upon your past with regret; rather, choose to look at every decision as an opportunity to grow. Use life’s pains as teaching moments to shape your future in a positive way.

Never Settle

“Make the most of the best and the best of the worst, and keep your standards high. Never settle for anything less than you deserve or are capable of achieving.”

― Roy T. Bennett

         Things aren’t going to always go your way. So, you must learn to do the best with whatever hand you’re dealt…no matter how crappy. But remember, you don’t have to settle because you’re dealt a bad hand. Know what you want and go after it…no matter how hard the wind blows against you.