Ever had one of those days when everything seems to go wrong? The alarm doesn’t go off, your toast gets burned or you spill your coffee, it begins to rain, there’s a lot of traffic, and on and on. Problems seem to build on each other leading to a even bigger problems down the road.

Stop and notice the impact that this sequence of problems has on your mental state. If you’re not careful, the first problem will tend to push you into a negative mental state where you start to expect problems - and life obliges by feeding you the next problem, then the next, and the next. In other words, if you get into a mental state where you’re looking for problems, you’ll certainly find them.

How do you change this “problem-negative expectation-more problem” loop? By deciding to change your perspective when that first problem pops up.

Changing your perspective means looking for the “silver lining” in any problem that hits you. Ask yourself, “What’s the good in this problem?” or “Where is the opportunity to learn something?” instead of immediately thinking something like, “Great! This ALWAYS happens to me!” Do you see the difference in perspective? One puts you into a mental state where you’re looking for opportunities while the other puts you into a state where you’re looking for (and expecting) more problems.

One thing I know to be true 100% of the time: whether you’re looking for “silver linings” or whether you’re looking for more problems, you’re always going to find what you’re looking for.

Improve your outlook in life by making sure that you’re looking for the right things!

Hiram

The Balanced Health Guy

Technorati Tags: balanced health, attitude, perspective, mental state

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