“A joyful heart is good medicine.” Proverbs 17:22
“It’s not about talent. It’s about choices,” says motivational entrepreneur, Andy Frisella. Successful leaders echo his point. When it comes to living a better life, choices win out over talent every time.
For us, the question becomes, “Given my life’s circumstances, what are my choices and how do I make the best ones now?” Acknowledging that our world is rigged unfairly for minorities and the underserved, most of us have built-in advantages unknown to our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.
We weren’t in charge of where we were born. We inherited what we have in the way of lineage, so there’s that. We’re now responsible to living and breathing through every day of our lives, making the most of it. The first best choice is positivity over negativity. Studies show that pessimism is a true killer. The Washington Post reported as far back as 1996 that, “Pessimism affects one's attitudes, motivations and actions. Because these factors affect what people do to prevent illness and how they act if sick, pessimists are less healthy than optimists.” Anyone surprised?
Becoming aware of constant negativity and pessimism is a giant step in the right direction, not for our health alone, but for the lovely people around us. Bombarded night and day with pessimistic messages from all media is tough enough. But when someone we love is constantly bickering, gloomy, cynical, and bleak, it sometimes becomes disheartening and overwhelming. Let’s do the world a favor and put on a happy face. That may be the best choice we can make right now.
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