Coming after the unusually warm and sunny days of late summer, autumn this year seems particularly cold, damp and bleak. The whole world seems to be in turmoil and we can’t even turn up the central heating or huddle in front of a cheerful, warm fire without worrying about the fuel bills or air pollution. All in all it can seem pretty difficult to stay happy and on top of things.
Lots of Self Help books will tell you that ‘you need to stay positive’ or that ‘a positive attitude is critical to success’ but this isn’t very helpful if you don’t feel positive and your immediate situation is marked by real loss or a lack of much needed resources. Trying to always stay upbeat and happy in the face of undeniably unfortunate circumstances can make you feel a bit of a fraud.
Fortunately there is a secret to becoming both as genuine and as positive as possible in spite of everything you may be facing. A secret to the way in which you can be true to yourself and at the same time reap the rewards of what people call a positive attitude.
And that secret is to develop the habit of moving from ‘problem’ to ‘solution’ as quickly as possible because true positivity is not so much a matter of outer behaviour but of inner focus.
This might sound overly simplistic. But if you think about it, so-called ‘negative’ people are individuals whose focus remains solely on their problems without ever moving to solution. They complain about their situation and proclaim that things will never get better but they never shift their attention to how they can resolve their problems to make things better.
Sometimes, of course, the solutions to our problems are not immediately obvious. That’s why, in order to apply this approach to positive thinking, you first need to be committed to the belief that wherever a problem can be identified a solution can be found. The secret is to choose motion over emotion. Give yourself the time you need to process and define your problem but deny yourself the self-destructive luxury of wallowing in it. Instead, maintain a focus on the outcome you really want and keep moving towards it.
No-one can be happy all the time, especially when life gets rough or sad things happen and, indeed, it isn’t even healthy to try. But we can always decide to move from problem to solution as quickly as possible. Having that habit will not only ensure we experience the maximum amount of joy in our lives, but also that we set a truly positive example for others to follow.
