Positive or negative friends. Which do you want? Lets face it, it depends on who you surround your life and what choice you make. Swim with the negative or swim with the positive, just a metaphor. So really we do have a choice. I have been in a group where no one seemed to like anything. It was depressing, when despite my efforts to help them focus on the little gifts of life, they always found an excuse to remain unhappy, stuck and miserable. It is exhausting trying to make someone happy. Guess what you can not make anyone happy. Happiness is a choice, an active and individual choice. Stuff happens all the time. None of us is immune to suffering and sadness, to the sudden end in relationships. If you hang with the negative, moan groan society, those who are never happy, folks who blame others for their choices, friends who criticize and judge others, family that only sees your mistakes, well then you feel just crappy.
You cannot change them, the only person you can change is you. See the beauty of you, the value of your voice, set boundaries and hangout with positive supportive people. You too can become part of the positive folks. This is not to say that you won’t be sad or experience loss and suffering, merely that with positive compassionate supports ,life is less lonely during those difficult times.
From the book ‘The Art of Happiness’, By His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cultler MD. “And once you encourage the thought of compassion in your mind, once that thought becomes active, then your attitude towards others changes automatically. If you approach others with the thought of compassion, that will automatically reduce fear and allow an openness with other people. It creates a positive, friendly atmosphere. With that attitude , you can approach a relationship in which you, yourself, initially create the possibility of receiving affection or a positive response from the other person.”
Life looks and feels better.Everyday we have a choice to happy. Focus on the little things. Yes you have a choice. What will you do today that is positive?