One day at a time.

I think a majority of people are really scared to see the end. To know that life is over and they can’t go back. It’s kinda our motivator sometimes: YOLO, take a risk and just do it. We get lost and lose focus of the blessing of today.

The other day while I was at church the priest talked about how we don’t know when our last day on earth will be. It really hit me that I may predict that I will wake the next day, but I truly don’t know. God gave me the gift of today, so i need to live it. Live it like it’s your last. In the beginning of my journal I have a number: 32,850. This is the number of days a 90 year old has over their lifetime and that doesn’t seem like a lot.

The point is that life is truly precious and you should live it one day at a time… gratefully. My dad has always tried to reinforce this in us. For as long as I can remember, my dad has told me to be positive even if I don’t feel like it. We all have days that we may feel horrible and like life just keeps knocking us down. Nevertheless, we don’t need to ruin someone else’s day just because of our own selfishness.

I know this may seem pretty harsh but hear me out. Whether you choose to have a positive or negative outlook on the day is how your day will sway.

This is not denying that we have other feelings going on inside. We need to be open and let these out, once we let go of what ever is holding us down we need to focus on the positive things in our lives because this is the way to get back to happiness.

When I was in elementary school I recall the morning announcements always ended with this phrase: “Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours”. I used to think this was stupid and I remember kids mocking it thinking it was a funny joke. Now after making it through my middle school, and most of my high school years, I realize the truth to this.

Most people think that positivity only flows one way. If you smile it will reflect that positivity within. Researchers from Stanford conducted a global study across 19 countries with 3,800 people. They found that even if the participants mimicked the smile they felt happier. Ironic how even faking a smile could make you slightly more happy.

Life has a lot to do with perspective. There are so many things that can happen in our day to day life, and if all you think about are the negative then your going to be pretty unhappy. And what do we all strive for: happiness. Positivity and happiness go hand in hand.

You can’t be happy without positivity. In the Britannica it literally defines happiness as: “a state of emotional well-being that a person experiences either in a narrow sense, when good things happen in a specific moment, or more broadly, as a positive evaluation of one’s life and accomplishments overall.”

But being positive is a practice though, it takes time and effort. The more you work at it the more you realize that you naturally become more positive. I believe there are three things that can help improve our perception of life.

1. Discipline

It takes discipline to wake up everyday and look forward to the day, to push yourself out of bed and start the day right. This doesn’t mean you have to wake up at 5 am and do 50 push ups or anything. Just wake up and take a moment to think how great you day is going to be– manifest it. 

2. Gratitude

Waking up everyday and being positive will allow yourself to become more grateful for the life you have. Looking for things to be grateful for during the day will definitely affect how happy you are. I try to list three things I am grateful for in my journal at the end of each day. This allows me to reflect on good things that happened to me during the day.  Making this list creates awareness and an attitude of gratitude throughout the day so I don’t have to think so hard at the end of the day for my three things. Honestly, gratitude makes you ten times more happy.

3. Awareness

Choosing to be happy everyday allows us to understand and control our emotions better. If you are choosing to be happy every day chances are there are some days where you just aren’t feeling it. If you are able to choose how to channel your emotions, you will have a greater awareness for your own feelings and the feelings of others.

Starting Simple

It’s important to start simple. If you at least start positive your energy should help flow throughout the day to keep you focused on the goal: happiness.

I also believe that positivity has a side affect of looking at others more kindly and desire to help them. Helping others is one of the things I believe can make us most happy in life. Living a positive life for ourselves and helping others achieve that as well.

Hope you all enjoyed this post today. I plan on trying to post once or twice a month just because it can be so hard with school. Stay tuned and God bless.