What do You See?

What do You See?

 Keys to Maintaining a Healthy, Positive Outlook 

Have you ever wondered how some people who seem to have all kinds of bad things happen to them still maintain a positive outlook on life while others who may have very little wrong in their lives are always depressed and constantly speak only the negative out of their mouths?  There are many explanations from so-called experts as to what may be the cause for these negative attitudes we see in people.  But the explanations are usually “outside” of the person.  Outside of her control and her ability to change.  That sounds good and it certainly takes the burden off of us to make any changes in our lives.  But is our outlook really out of our control?  Or are we actually the ones who are responsible for how we respond to life’s challenges?  And do we have spiritual weapons that have been freely given to us to use to battle pessimism, negativity, and wrong thinking?  Negative Attitudes are typically the result of 4 characteristics:

1)    Negativity and pessimism are just plain habit.  Because of wrong influences in your life, you have allowed negative thinking and pessimism to become very ugly habits that affect every part of your life. 

2)    You continuously expect bad things to happen to you which in turn seems to attract more bad things

3)    You have an ungrateful attitude about everything, including the good things that come into your life.

4)    The spiritual law of sowing and reaping which includes attitudes.  If you are constantly looking at life in a negative way, never showing gratefulness, always speaking negatively about your life, about people, about situations, you most surely are going to reap those negative words. 

It isn’t my intension to minimize anyone’s pain and suffering by telling them to just “speak positive things”.  That’s just silly nonsense when someone is hurting deeply and in despair about a situation in her life.  But what I am saying is that even in the deepest pain, there is hope.  Corrie Ten Boom, the woman who was imprisoned in a concentration camp for hiding Jews during Hitler’s reign of terror, made this comment after spending all those years in those horrific conditions.  She said, “There is no pit so deep, that Jesus is not deeper still”.  Her attitude while in that concentration camp was one of believing that she served a God who is “more than enough”, even in those horrendous circumstances.  She was actually a beacon of light and hope for the other women in the concentration camp and became their “spiritual mother”.  She gave the others hope and a sense of peace in the midst of their circumstances.  Her faith actually changed the atmosphere of that concentration camp for all of those women, and even for some of the guards.  Her attitude brought light to a place of utter darkness. 

If you want to cultivate a positive attitude in your life, follow these steps over the next month and watch what happens.

• Notice your speech.  Really listen to yourself.  How do you sound?  Do only negative things come out of your mouth?
• Each day find at least one thing to be grateful for.  It may be something as small as seeing a pretty wildflower along the road.  But no matter how bad things are for you right now, find something to be grateful for. 
• Express that gratefulness out loud to God
• Minimize the outside negative influences that you allow into your life.  The news, negative people, etc. 
• Meditate on Bible verses that express the goodness of God 

Creating a positive, healthy outlook takes some work, especially if you’re a person who has developed the habit of seeing only the negative in life.  But if you are willing to put a little time and effort into your attitude, you can actually change those negative habits into habits that will bring you much joy and a much better way to live your life.