The Power of Positive Thinking

"Positive people tend to have many similar characteristics, such as respecting everyone's contribution to a project and knowing during hard times that things will get better. They have the power to make that change happen, an understanding that their attitudes can directly affect outcomes, and a commitment to increasing positive thoughts and diminishing negative ones. Are you putting effort towards becoming a more positive person? Avoid complaining when things are turning sour, realize that the negatives and the positives in life will level out, and take responsibility for your life and actions. You are the only person responsible for your attitude--and your life."


Too true, too true. Taken from one of Sparkpeople's helpful and relevant emails, today's motivational topic got me thinking about whether or not I am a happy/positive person.

One thing I've learned about myself - when my health isn't well, my brain isn't well. It's so effing difficult to maintain optimism when your body is experiencing so much pain that your goal for the weekend will be to clean the house or do the dishes.

Thank GOD I am past that stage. As an active person who finally learned the value of exercise and eating well, I never thought I'd get to a sad point like that. Well, 2 car accidents in 2 months cured me of that notion.

Even after a year of struggle (after the initial healing), I now fully comprehend the frustration so many feel when they find themselves relegated to a wheelchair or a walker after a sudden accident. It's trully mind-altering as well as body altering. It may appear "selfish" that so many of these people refuse to live a life like that and decide to off themselves...but now that I've been to that dark, pessimistic and all-consuming place in my mind, I can certainly get why they would.

I say all this because I find myself much changed in the past few years...from doing AMAZINGLY to doing pretty well to car accidents to doing poorly to slowly doing better and better every day, the health pendulum is swinging in a good direction once again.

I walked on Town Lake this weekend...twice. I just walked again with Monica before work today. If I can surmount the nagging Plantar Fasciitis caused by walking around New York in improper shoes during the Christmas break, then I might just be able to turn myself into a jock.

Is it odd to find yourself in better shape at 40 than you ever were at 20? Of course not...I hope to be svelte and athletic by the time I turn 40, and I can live with that realistic goal because I have 3 years to do it.

I've always been a fan of the "new lease on life" concept, and feel very strongly that one of the benefits to being an intelligent human being is learning to invent and re-invent oneself in order to keep the positive flowing and the negative at bay.

I plan to do that for the entirety of my life. Exercise, maybe a new coffee table...it all makes sense.