Positive Thoughts and Introspection

For as long as I have had conscious thoughts about how I think and function as a human being, I've believed with all my heart that if I can just learn something from a bad experience I can get through it and be ok.  I've also always told myself that, even if I'm not ok right this second, there will come a time when I will be.  While I wouldn't call my life anymore difficult or fraught with disaster than anyone else's life, life has been varying degrees of difficult, especially during the last 10 years. I've found myself having an increasingly difficult time maintaining my personal philosophies that keep me focused on the positive. I'm pretty certain that even the most positive people go through this and I know, without a doubt, that so many people are struggling much more than I am on any given day. Life has a way of beating the positive right out of you, leaving you clinging with your fingernails to what you know and what brings you comfort.  I thought I should take some time to share what I know and what brings me comfort...maybe it will help someone...I know it will refocus my thoughts in a more positive direction.

I need people.

I need to have a relationship with God and have faith in the Savior.

I have to hope and have faith.

I've had more good things happen in my life than bad things.

I am loved...adored.

I am capable of living.

My kids give me reason to function.

I need beauty in my life.

Beauty can be found anywhere.

Music makes me happy.

I need to cry.

I need to laugh.

I have choices.

If I fill my life with more and more positives, there won't be as much room for negatives.

It's good to just breathe and be still.

I've had ample evidence that all of these things are true for me. Sometimes I have to take a beat and remind myself of all that evidence but I really don't need to search too deeply to find it.  Life is simple, people are complicated...and I'm no exception. I could fill my days with complaining, resenting, apathy and all kinds of negative thoughts processes...and if I'm going to be truthful, I have to admit to filling more than one day this way. It doesn't accomplish a darn thing, though. Focusing on what I can do, in this one little moment, to make my life brighter accomplishes truckloads more than all those negatives. Why it seems easier to focus on negatives than it is on positives is one of life's great mysteries that I hope to figure out some day. Until then, join me in trying to focus on all the amazing things going on in this beautiful life we share.