Do you choose to see the positive in life or can you only see the negative? How did you answer the question? Now how would you characterize the people around you…positive or negative? If you are surrounded by negative people, then it can be much more challenging to try to stay positive. You have a choice of how you want to see the world and who you want to hang out with every day. These choices are important, because they also impact how you see yourself. Sometimes we see ourselves through other people’s eyes vs. our own. Are you able to see the positive about yourself or do you only see all of your faults?
I am a big proponent of assuming the best of others before immediately passing judgment. There are so many things that people have going on under the surface and in their lives that the rest of us have no idea about. I am sure that you have probably heard the quote, “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Assuming the best of others immediately takes away a lot of the negative energy that we may have and prevents us from jumping to conclusions. Try looking at a person today who would normally upset you and see if you can look at them from this viewpoint. Imagine that they are going through something really big in their lives and it is preventing them from being their best. Can you immediately feel a shift in your view of them?
If you can do that for other people, then why can’t you do that for yourself? We are not perfect, although many people keep trying to be. Let’s just state the fact here that perfection is unattainable. We all have strengths and weaknesses. We are all just trying to do the best that we can each day. What if we just accept ourselves as we are right now instead? Accept the good things that we like about ourselves, the things we aren’t good at, the faults we have, the way we look, the regrets we have, the mistakes we made and the things we need to forgive ourselves for. Just accept all of it, the good and the bad, however that looks for each of us. If you can do that for yourself then you don’t care what other people’s opinions of you are, yours is the important one. Isn’t that how it should be anyway?