For Some, Positivity is Extra Hard This Time of Year

It can be extra difficult to remember that positivity and all its elements are already inside us. For some people, the holidays are the best time of the year. Get-togethers with family and friends; amazing meals and treats; notions of joy, cheer, goodwill, and the like – and presents, of course. Yet for some people, the holidays are the worst time of the year. Reminders of loneliness; incompatibility of non-Christian religions; struggles to meet expectations; dealing with family and the

Recognize and Embrace How Change Makes Rather than Takes Everything?

What change makes is literally everything. There is only one constant in the entire Universe. Change. Change will always happen. Sometimes it is so glacially slow and microscopically small that it seems not to be happening. Other times it’s cataclysmic, sudden, and ginormous. Either way – change is. It’s constant, unstoppable, and ineffable. Without change – nothing we know would be. In the words of Marcus Aurelius, “Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change?

Do You Accept What is or Choose What Could Possibly Be?

What could possibly be is less improbable than you might imagine. I frequently use the phrase “it is what it is”. What I often fail to realize is that while the intent of saying “it is what it is” is to avoid argument and debate – it can also empower unwanted things. That additionally denies potential and possibility to accept what is. Admittedly, my regular use of this is to end debates with my mom. Sure, it often cuts short

Is It Empowering to Acknowledge That I Know That I Don’t Know That?

Recognizing that I don’t know that opens me to options to learn, grow, and control change. There are some things I know a lot about. And there are even more things that I know a little about. This can be both incredibly useful – and slightly dangerous. Useful, because I perceive what I realize to the extent that I know it. Be it something I know a little or a lot about – what I already discern has limits. There

The Positivity or Negativity of Your Actions Are Your Truth

What your actions reflect – positivity or negativity – is the truth of your life. Nobody but you is inside your head, heart, or soul. Thus, nobody but you ever knows what you are thinking, what and how you’re feeling, or the intentions behind actions you take. Your actions, however, are how others can see what, where, how, why, and all else in concert with who you are. Your actions are how the outside world sees your inside self. This

Something Bad Is Sometimes What It Takes to Improve Your Life

The Universe is a paradox. Hence, sometimes something bad can turn out to be good. My life was forever changed 22 years ago. On November 30th, 1999, I decided to walk the quarter-mile or so from my apartment to the post office. When crossing the busy highway between home and my destination, I was struck by a car (and it was a hit-and-run incident). Fortunately, I have zero memory of the accident itself. For the next week or so, there

The Only Mind You Can Positively Change is Your Mind

Why not focus on positively changing your mind for the better? Spending any time at all browsing social media can be infuriating. Any encounter with news sources – legitimate or not – can be disheartening and depressing. Between the ongoing fight with the COVID-19 pandemic, seriously disruptive and destructive politics, entitled people being awful, and various other world events – it’s easy to lose sight of our own lives. No matter what side you fall on in any given discussion

How Does Gratitude Help Extinguish the Fires of the World?

It’s too easy to see the world as being on fire. But gratitude can extinguish the flames. The last two years have been insane. Not for me, per se – but on the scale of the Big Picture of the world. Between Trump, COVID-19, ugly social injustices, discrimination, surreal entitlement, blatant lies from many of our so-called leaders and “news” networks, and the seemingly never-ending stream of awfulness – it sure as hell looks like the world is on fire.

You can Always Choose Something – Right, Wrong, Big, Small, or Whatever

There is massive positivity in knowing you can always choose something, no matter the situation. I’ve had many experiences in my life where it felt like I had few to no choices available. Or worse, there were choices – and they were all bad. Or at least felt bad and less than optimum at the time. But so long as you are alive, you can always choose something. It’s easy, however, to lose sight of this. Many of the leaders

Can Making Choices and Doing What’s Best for You Harm Others?

Doing what’s best for you might harm others – but that’s likely beyond your control. When I was younger, I crowned myself the King of Indecision. I lived perpetually at a crossroads between two points. So that I wouldn’t make the wrong decision, I frequently made no decision. No decision, no harm, right? Wrong. By not making choices and deciding for myself how my life should be – I was the plaything of the Universe. Life lived me – save

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