It's All About Your Attitude

I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been stuck on a post for over a week and it should be posted soon. (Hooray! I can move on. :) )

I was traversing blogs today. I'm trying to figure out the best way to post videos for family and ended up finding blogs of people I know. Anyway...

I found a blog where someone shared a story that I recognized because I was sitting right next to her when it happened. What was fascinating to me was that her perception of the event was much different than mine. Her perspective was mostly negative, which exaggerated what actually happened. She also chose not to mention anything that might have qualified the point she was trying to make. This really bothered me because this event was significant to me, too, and my actions, if she'd have mentioned them, would have changed the entire point of the story. (Of course, then she couldn't have used it to make her point...)

It got me thinking about how our attitude can affect our perception of what goes on around us. If we choose to focus on negative things, we might not be as receptive or able to see the positive in our lives or in those around us. As we continue to have negative thoughts, we become more irritable, more willing to complain, and more willing to find faults in ourselves and others, which then makes us and those around us feel worse and the cycle starts over in a continuing downward spiral to "the depths of despair" as Anne Shirley might say.

However, as we choose to focus on positive things, we become more optimistic about life, about ourselves, and about those around us. We are more willing to give others the benefit of the doubt, more willing to make allowances for ourselves and others, and, in general, we become much nicer people to be around. I think I like the positive way better. :)