Turning Negatives into Positives

You've heard it said "think positive and positive things will happen." I have never truly agreed with this statement, as a matter of fact my typical reaction to this statement is to role my else, because, the fact is, it doesn't matter how positive you think, bad things are still going to happen. The trick is to turn the negatives into positives.

Artists do it all that time,a blog of ink splatters on their paper and they turn it into part of the scenery, the paint runs a little thinner than they expected, they take something unexpected, and incorporate it into their work of out. As a matter of fact, some of the most famous works of art are noted because the artist did the best he could with what he had to work with. Michelangelo's original David sculpture cracked and the entire back half fell off. He could have gave up and focused on how ugly the back of the statue was,or how much marble he just waited, or he could have done what he did, continue working with what he had left and make a gorgeous sculpture that has been a noted work of art for hundreds of years and around the world. He also sculpted the Pieta, a sculpture depicting Mary holding her son (Jesus) in her arms after he was taken down from the cross. To sculpt Mary and Jesus to scale he wouldn't have been able to pose the figures the way he did, but instead of abandoning the idea and sculpting the figures in a different position altogether, he simply played with proportion until he created the moving moment depicted in the sculpture we see today. The sculpture of Nike originally had arms, but they broke off, but she is still noted as one of most beautiful and valuable sculptures of her time.

It's frustrating when things don't work out the way we want them to or the way we plan, because often there are variables out of our control. Instead of getting caught up in the negative and focusing on what went wrong, focus on what you can do now with what you have; make the most of what you have, and you will find that you're life may just end up being a priceless work of art.

I had an opportunity to capitalize on this sentement today. I woke up a bit earlier than usual, got myself and my daughter ready and make us both delicious healthy breakfasts. Headed off to day care and work, everything was going smoothly. Until I got to work and found out my schedule had been changed and I wasn't supposed to be their for another 3 hour and would be working 3 hours later than usual. At first I was upset because that's 3  hours of QT I could have spent with my sweet baby girl, not to mention the extra money I wouldn't have had to spend on day care since she wouldn't have had to be there for a full day. Then of course comes the frustration of trying to find someone to pick her up from day care at her regular time, and since I would be working later than usual that's time I wouldn't get to workout...etc. I could have dwelled on all the little irritants, OR I could have done what I did: realize I have 3 hours to myself, while my daughter was being well taken care of, she didn't know anything was any different, and I could do whatever I wanted with my time.

My next thoughts were, now what should I do with my free time? Get a few more hours of sleep? Find something fun to do? I had to do something because I wasn't allowed to stay at work and if I did, I wouldn't be getting paid for the extra hours. So, I went home and got a workout in! Yeah, baby!

This was a pretty simple way to turn a negative into a positive, and I know, it's not always going to be this easy and sometimes the negatives are going to be a whole lot more negative, but as long as you look for the positives and find ways to do the best with what you have, life will be a whole lot Better.