Anne Frank once observed, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
I wholeheartedly believe this. You change your thoughts, you can change your world.
You see, on this road — this twisting, turning road to happiness — there will be many ups and downs. There will be challenges, inspirations, roadblocks, and many contradictions.
People will be illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will sometimes accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
The men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Try and give the best you have anyway.
Sure, doing all of those things isn't always easy, but it is always, always an option.
If you really want to live a positive, joyful and happy life, you cannot –- absolutely CANNOT -– be surrounded by negative things that are not encouraging your happiness. I learned to focus on the positive things I was doing and let go of the negative ones.
This process is not easy and to be honest, is still ongoing, but know this: having negativity in your life prevents you from living a truly happy existence.
So, through all of the cloudy days and dark nights, try your best to find the positives in life.
There is a positive aspect in everything.
In every person, in every situation, there is something good. Most of the time, it's not always that obvious. We have to look and sometimes we have to look hard...but there always is.
During this quest, remember to reinforce positivity in yourself. Tell yourself you're awesome, that you look good, that you do an awesome job at whatever it is you do. It's okay to not like everything about yourself, but don't spend energy dwelling on the negative.
Be sure to share happiness with others. Not only do you need to be positive with yourself, but you also need to be positive with others. The best way I've found to do this is quite simple and basic: be nice. The more you are practicing it, the more you are reinforcing it in your own life.
Be thankful for every day you get. Because every day is a blank canvas and we get to paint the picture of our life's view. Yeah, it's not easy...sometimes it's near impossible, but fake it till you make it. Smile when you want to frown. Dance when you feel like curling into a ball. Laugh when you want to cry.
Am I saying shove negative feelings to the side? No, I most certainly am not. I know that at times we have to break down and have a moment of sadness. But you have that moment, then you get up and go on with your life, because despite what you encounter, the world is yours for the taking.
