Don't think positive, be positive.

 Happiness... it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
-Vincent Van Gogh

     In my opinion, being happy puts all the little pieces in our lives together. If being positive will more often than not push us towards happiness, then I will promote a place that always generates a positive aura to myself and the people around me. I believe that always being positive is motivating and there is no reason not to be.  Logically speaking, there is little to no risk in being positive all the time.  For example, you wake up late one morning and feel that you're going to get to work late.  You become upset and eventually angry.  You automatically fall into a negative mindset, lose motivation and the dreadful cycle begins.  So you get there an hour and a half late, your boss screams at you, you rush to get some coffee, but everyone in the office already hogged it all.  Your whole day ends up feeling terrible, often times running into problem after problem throughout your miserable day.  People will begin to stay away from you, because you're angry/in a bad mood (they can smell it a mile away).  You will being to notice how the line is moving slow at the next door coffee shop, work will take unusually longer to end or you'll just end up dwelling on negative thoughts and beating your self-conscience to a pulp, forcing yourself  out of straight-thinking and end up making more mistakes then ever in that one day.  It's a dangerous cycle that is really unnecessary to bring upon yourself, but it's so easy to fall into.

     Now lets rewind the clock and replay that scenario using a positive mindset..  Lets say you get up late and tell yourself  "I can make it on time!" even though it takes an hour to get there on average, you have to be there at nine and you woke up twenty minutes before nine.  You know this, but you're a positive person by nature and can't help but try anyway.  Now you get dressed, jump in the car, of course without subconsciously losing motivation and courage like you did the first time around.  Then you get to work thirty minutes late, the boss gives you a quick warning, there's still enough coffee in the pot for one more cup, you quickly forget about the morning woes an start talking about your weekend with work buddies.  You'll feel proud of yourself (or at least proud you tried) and your day will move on normally.  Even if it ends horribly, you still ended up at least having the motivation to try harder.  Positive thoughts usually yields motivational actions, it's a win-win situation.  It takes time to develop the practice of being actively positive.  Soon after, it will become like second nature and you'll begin to think positive instinctively. Surround yourself by positive people, thoughts, words and you will get there much faster yourself.  The biggest mistake you will encounter is trying to hard to think positively.  Thinking positive alone will help, but won't do the trick.  You have to think and FEEL positive to really make an impact on your life and the people around you.  A good man once told me:

1. You act the way you feel.
2. You feel the way you are treated.
3. You are treated the way you act.

Positivity, just like negativity, is contagious. One positive person can encourage and motivate entire groups of friends and family  Theoretically, If being positive can promote happiness and happiness can promote confidence and confidence promotes positive thoughts, then we have put ourselves in a cycle of on going growth and harmony.  We must actively pursue it or we will fall victim to the bullying of society!

I will be putting up challenges every Monday.  Stay tuned friends!