A Plan of Action

Indeed, a silver lining shows up nearly everywhere if you're open enough to recognize it. Admittedly, the path to finding those moments is easier and shorter when you have a cheerful and positive mindset. Of course, negative and gloomy thoughts push the light of what is good around us further from discovery. Being able to rise above whatever hurdles and roadblocks life presents by choosing happy, peaceful snippets along our path is essential to enjoying the world. I find, however, that the deepest impact that brings change happens when I am fighting through darker times.

When I express my gratitude for the life I am living, it isn't because my days are exceptionally happy. More often than not I find I need to stare down negative thoughts that are quite literally threats to my continued ability to experience optimal happiness. I don't suffer from depression or anxiety on any measurable level, so I cannot say my approach to living a happy existence would work solely on its own merits where those types of diagnoses are present. What I do know, and what I can attest to is that even the most balanced of us cannot escape the potential for negative thinking.

Worry that comes from stress is little more than fear, yet despite knowing that, the grasp is often quite powerful. Day to day, I set out to focus on what has gone well, and most of the time I surprise myself with how much I'm able to recognize. Those days that it's more challenging, well, more involved measures are often necessary to change my stuck in a rut thinking.

Though it hasn't always been the case, I rely heavily on exercise to change whatever broken record of self-doubt or doom and gloom happens to be playing in my head. It's likely that any change of routine would work well to switch into a more positive frame of mind, but my fail-safe is weight training. The exertion and focus that are required create the perfect opportunity for more positive energy. There is little to no benefit in working out when you're mentally beating yourself up. I know that if I cannot effectively change gears by redirecting my thoughts, putting my all into shaping my body and increasing my endurance leads to more than just physical strength.

Every day presents the possibility of good and bad. No matter how we try to avoid the pull of negative emotions, there will be times when those feelings get the upper hand. Even the most practiced of positive living individuals has to face their own inner shortcomings regularly. Choosing to be happy is only half of what it takes to know happiness. Having a back-up, fool-proof way to cast away the darker stuff - that's the most important thing a person can possess.

We don't always need a plan to enjoy the good moments, but we should always have one to turn the less desirable times into something better.