Positive Thinking In Action 5

So, were you able to find some positive responses to these situations?

• Stepping in gum on the sidewalk.
• Stepping in dog poop in your yard.
• Spilling your morning coffee.
• Being tailgated by another driver.
• Tearing your pants / skirt on the way to an appointment.
• Locking your keys in the car.

        Something you may have discovered, as I have, is that we are geared toward reacting in a negative way to annoying, inconvenient, difficult and challenging situations. We don't concern ourselves with positive thinking at the birth of a child, winning the lottery or getting a pay raise. It's only during negative situations that we have to try and find a path to a positive response. 
        Regarding the scenarios, I hope that after you pictured / imagined your initial [probably negative] reaction, you could come up with some positive self talk to put a positive response spin on each. The best method I have discovered is:

1. Take a deep breath.
2. Remind yourself that your emotions are influencing your response.
3. Start to develop a plan on the best way to improve the circumstance. Diverting yourself away from the emotion by focusing on the task.
4. Take another deep breath; check your attitude, blood pressure and language.
5. Put your plan into action.
6. Is this situation so awful that the world has stopped spinning? Frequently, coming up with a worse case scenario than the one you're in makes the current one seem trivial.
7. Get on with your day; it happened, it's over, it's fixed, let it go, move on!!

        Keep the positive thinking, positive self talk response in your daily routines. Practice, practice, practice... Next, we'll address more serious, more devastating situations.