"When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It's all a matter of perspective."
Harvey Mackay
Today's post is inspired from O Henry's story 'The Last Leaf' which sublimely depicts optimism in the worst of times. Everything in the world will happen when it has to happen, you or me have no control over it. Ultimately, it is we who shape our lives, through our thoughts, decisions, and actions. Optimism and pessimism are two sides of the same coin. Either you choose to be a pessimist and jinx your own life or you choose the optimistic side and try to be happy and let others be happy as well.
When I searched on the internet for, 'how to be optimistic', I found 56,300,000 results in 0.39 seconds. Most of them essentially highlight how one can invite positive thoughts, practice positive assertion, think of the glass that is half full and so on. But why in the world was I reading them? Well lately, a series of events in my life made me very negative in my approach. I would think negatively, think of 'what ifs' in a negative manner, find flaws in every situation, regress back to the past, etc. All this negativity was draining my energy, my happiness, and I was sort of stuck in my life. I suddenly felt this need for detoxification of my mind, to find a way out of negative thoughts.
The first thing I did was avoiding arguments or discussions with a negative person. Whatever you say, they would find umpteen reasons to justify their stand. The discussions would just lead to nowhere except for ruining your day. Sometimes, negativity is so deeply rooted in their hearts that however hard you try, you cannot convince the person. Also, when you yourself are in a negative state of mind, talking to another such person will only drain you. So it's better to avoid such people altogether. And I did just that and trust me, this was a big step and more difficult than anything else, for it meant not interacting with friends and colleagues who were full of complaints, criticisms, and cynical comments and who would derive pleasure in belittling you. As somebody said: If you are in the company of people who rule you through fear, making you feel belittled and unappreciated, it's time to exit their lives. Don't let your loyalty become slavery, if they don't appreciate what you bring to the table, let them eat alone! This isn't saying "I hate them", it's saying "I love me!".
I tried to figure out something unique that would keep me happy and motivated. Writing for this blog served as a daily diary, wherein each day I filtered out only positivity. In the process, I learned about many things and I shared it here with you. For me, it proved to be an exercise to search for ideas and answers that constantly boggled my mind, quest for learning something new each day, and in the process I felt motivated and happy, and asserted that things would be better tomorrow if not today.
All good things must come to an end. With this, my fantastic journey of '30 signatures in 30 days' comes to an end. Each day I made an effort to think differently, to think positively; some days I was successful while on some days I couldn't give my 100%. But at least I tried. I hope all of you who have been a part of this small journey, learned something new each day and appreciated something at least. Negative thinking will not benefit any of you. So get rid of them in your own style.
I hope, the last leaf that hangs in here will always be a memento of hope and optimism, of a beautiful future that lies ahead of us. Nothing or nobody can deter us from living happily. Be happy today and always.
I thank all my family, friends and everyone who has been a part of this journey.
The first thing I did was avoiding arguments or discussions with a negative person. Whatever you say, they would find umpteen reasons to justify their stand. The discussions would just lead to nowhere except for ruining your day. Sometimes, negativity is so deeply rooted in their hearts that however hard you try, you cannot convince the person. Also, when you yourself are in a negative state of mind, talking to another such person will only drain you. So it's better to avoid such people altogether. And I did just that and trust me, this was a big step and more difficult than anything else, for it meant not interacting with friends and colleagues who were full of complaints, criticisms, and cynical comments and who would derive pleasure in belittling you. As somebody said: If you are in the company of people who rule you through fear, making you feel belittled and unappreciated, it's time to exit their lives. Don't let your loyalty become slavery, if they don't appreciate what you bring to the table, let them eat alone! This isn't saying "I hate them", it's saying "I love me!".
I tried to figure out something unique that would keep me happy and motivated. Writing for this blog served as a daily diary, wherein each day I filtered out only positivity. In the process, I learned about many things and I shared it here with you. For me, it proved to be an exercise to search for ideas and answers that constantly boggled my mind, quest for learning something new each day, and in the process I felt motivated and happy, and asserted that things would be better tomorrow if not today.
All good things must come to an end. With this, my fantastic journey of '30 signatures in 30 days' comes to an end. Each day I made an effort to think differently, to think positively; some days I was successful while on some days I couldn't give my 100%. But at least I tried. I hope all of you who have been a part of this small journey, learned something new each day and appreciated something at least. Negative thinking will not benefit any of you. So get rid of them in your own style.
I hope, the last leaf that hangs in here will always be a memento of hope and optimism, of a beautiful future that lies ahead of us. Nothing or nobody can deter us from living happily. Be happy today and always.
I thank all my family, friends and everyone who has been a part of this journey.
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