I am so touched by this article! Lately I have found myself being a pessimist despite the fact that God is bringing about the best possible circumstances into my life. I am 24 years old, finishing up my M.A., interning at a place that I LOVE (and will prayerfully be hired at within 1 1/2 months), dating a WONDERFUL Christian guy... what more could I ask for? Yet at times I struggle with God's love, as if He doesn't want me anymore. I grapple with the idea that life could be better, more certain. The reality is my life is great. He has given me all things that pertain to life and Godliness. It's half full! Thank you for writing this!

I am similairly tempted to use self-deprecation for the sake of other people's enjoyment, and sometimes even my own. Somehow practicing that makes you start to believe it, if only just a little. I don't do it so much anymore, but when something goes wrong there is still that cynical voice inside.

I, too, try to remember how many blessings I have. One of our Pastors prayed on a rainy day "Thank you God that not every day is like today." I think that is one way to remember to be thankful, but somehow you should also try to be thankful for the rainy days as well and not just tolerate them hoping for better weather, metaphorically speaking.

Both easy and hard times come from the Hand of God. I think you appreciate this in how you saw the flat-tire as an opportunity to enjoy the surrounding serenity.

I too tend to get frustrated and upset when things go wrong or don't go my way and my mantra use to be, "Of course nothing can be easy!" when my efforts to get something done were met with chance events that caused resistance to my will. But like you, I am getting better and I have adopted a new mantra that I recite whenever I feel stressed or worried about something. My new mantra:
"Who do you say I am?". If I proclaim that Jesus is my Lord and Savior and that all things are possible with God, then how can I possibly sweat the small stuff and make them into mountains of crisis? Why don't I trust God if He is all that I believe with my whole heart that He is? Why don't I turn it over to Him? Why don't I leave things in His hands? If I truly believe who I proclaim He is, then I need to put it into effect with my attitude and outlook on situations when they arise. When I stop, take a breath, and ask in a whisper, "Who do you say I am?" It reminds me exactly who I say He is.

I have a tendency to wallow in self pity, too. This strategy was given to me a couple of years ago, and it works. Starting with the drive to work, I look, hard, to observe people treating one another with consideration, like allowing someone to merge into traffic, or holding the door. A quick prayer of thanks (that I was able to see it) and asking for blessings for the considerate, and I feel a lot better.

It is hard to maintain that positive attitude all of the time, especially when tough situations arise. One thing I do that I think helps, is I first acknowledge what actually happened and how i feel about it. Once I do this, I continue to on with the sentence with a "but statement". An example of this would be "I am really frustrated that this car in front of me is driving so slow, BUT i know its going to be okay, even if I am late - I'd rather be safe."
Of course this length of sentence might not always come out of me, but the more I stop to recognize my true initial thought, the easier it is for me to counteract it with a positive/more helpful thought.

I always try to find the humor in any less than idea situation. Once I can laugh at something--anything--especially if I can share that laugh with a friend, then I don't feel the negativity so much and the situation is much easier to deal with. God gave me a good sense of humor for a purpose and I use it to defuse my pessimism.

Yes, it is a process. Thank you for sharing. I first began to realize how negative my perspective was when I worked alongside a very positive woman. She always seemed to see "good stuff.'' I'd never thought to look for it. I still fall easily into negative mode, but the positive is becoming more normal. I heard someone say that we are very good at complaining because we practice so much. We need to practice thankfulness instead as you are doing.

When I'm feeling a little sorry for myself or getting into a negative mindset, I find someone who is going through a rough time and bless them with however God leads me. Taking the focus off myself and helping someone else releases "joy" endorphins! Like I always tell my daughter when she's thinking negative things, "change the channel". You can't control the bird flying over your head but you can keep it from making a nest in your hair! :)

As a psychology student in college, I've heard briefly about an emerging field called "positive psychology," a field where successful, happy, and otherwise well-doing people are being analyzed to discover what contributes to living a good life. What surprised me about the field is that it's only emerging. The apostle Paul talked about it with the Philippians many, many years ago:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8, NIV)

Not "remember your shortcomings as a human being" or "reflect on how unappealing you looked in the mirror this morning"...but to think about the good. Positive thoughts are an important key for me to maintaining a positive attitude.

I got into the habit in one office where I worked of saying, as did several others "I'm having one of THOSE days" - and finally realized it wasn't a good attitude to have. I started reciting to myself on my way to work "This is the day which the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it" (Some days I even sang the chorus!) - it worked - and I trained myself not to fall into using that phrase! Yes, some days are more trouble prone than others, but when you start looking at a day that way, you can always find one more thing to complain about!

Whenever anyone asks how I am in greeting, rather than say "fine", I reply, "I'm blessed". It reminds me I am truly blessed, even on those days when the stressors seem determined to hide the fact. Several people have thanked me for reminding them of their blessings as well.

Isn't it amazing how "little things" rightfully become so big when God puts the light on them rather than we seeing them through our own eyes.

Georgia

Dear Camerin,
This was posted on my birthday. Thank you for a great reminder at the beginning of a new year for me. Isn't it wonderful to see the freshness and fullness of life? Thank you for reminding us all to look at the bright side and count our blessings day by day.

Count my blessings.

Lilies grow best in the valleys and in partial shade. So remember this when you are having a "pity party". Remember that God is most likely using this "dark" time in your life to allow you to grow and mature spiritually. Use this time to pray and praise Him. But you will not appreciate this until maybe days or even years later.

My strategy has been "fake it til you make it". By willfully changing focus from the negative to the positive side and verbalizing the blessings, it doesn't take long to "make it" to the positive attitude.

Camerin,
Dating to find a soul mate must have the same half-full attitude on life to be successful.
Looking for the good qualities of a person is the basis of a true friendship.
As I am sure you are aware of the joy the Lord brings to our lives when we make a positive effort in everything, so too are the relationships we enter into.
When we find someone with a fair number of those qualities that we feel is needed to develop a long term relationship, we then look for the positive aspects the life unfolds.
Then there is the decision that; I will see this through and find out if a loving interaction with blossom and bear fruit.
Blessings,
Stan

Hello Dear,
The church-the body of christ-is god's agent of change in the world,and as member of that body,we are the one's who can lead they way and bring people out of darkness in god's marvelous light in other words you are god's agent of change in the world where you live.
''power''is the "dynamic ability to cause change" that mean we ara the one's who have the power to effect lasting change in the world where we live.Whatever God desires to do in our world, He will do thru=ough us, we are his extention ,his agent of change,we are the one's to whom he has entrusted the life-changing gospel of the lord jesus christ.Therefore we should not watch or sit idly by any and allow negative event take their toll on our world .jesus said we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world [ MATHEW 5:13-14],salt preserve it forestalls or prevent decadence,while light gives direction.
The prescious blood of Jesus christ is the prise god paid for your redemption"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptable thing,as silver and gold......but with the precious blood of christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot"[1 petter1:18-19].this should immediately let you know how valuable you are to God.God didn;t send an angle to die for for your sin.This very clearly reveal your true value to God ,you are as valuable to God as jesus is .
When you enter a shop to make a purchase,it is abnormal for you to want to pay more than the price for which the item is being offered for sale.rather,you pay the value on the price tag.That as exaotly what GOD did ,your valeu to him is the life and blood of Jesus Christ.If you had been the only person who need salvation in the world,Jesus would still have come to die.No wonder the apostel paul prayed that we may understand the magnitude and infitude of God's love [Ephesian 3:19].God love you more than you love your self.
Alway remainber that God loves you very much as he love Jesus .Jesus Himself made refrence to this in [john 17:23]when he said".....that the word will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as mush as you love me "Be conscious of this truth alway;this is the big thing about you ;it make you special;you are as valuable to God as Jesus is.
God is the reat iver there is the bible says"For God so love the world that he ave is only begotten son...."[john 3;16].His love motivated Him to give the greatest ift of all ,His prcious son Jesus christ. it' God's nature to give.No wonder the bible declare that ,he has iven us all thin that pertian to life and godliness[2petter 1:3].God is alway excited whenever his children demostrated his ivin nature.On contrary he detest stinginess and selfishness.The bible said"theliberal soul shall be made fat;and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.[proverb 11:25].keep praticing to give and give big,refuse to be among those who are only conscious of what they want to recieve .You are first a giver before you can recie .The bible did not say"Recieve"and than ive it shall be given unto you"rather"it say""Give" and it shall be given unto you,good measure ,pressed,and shake together and running over shall me ive into your bosom ,also the bible didn't say"God love a cheerful reciever "it say "God love a cheerful giver"[2 corithian 9:7].No wonder the bible declare that it is better to give than to recieve [Act 20:35].insterestingly as a giver you will alway recieve ;you cannot "not" recieve.you are made in the image and likeness of God,You have been created to function like God.He is the od of abundance,who is able to ive exceeding above all that anyone can could ask him.He aspect you to function like him since you have his nature of in you.Whenever there is a call to give ,alway give your best ,as God ave his best by sending Jesus to die and save the whole world from sin.
hello dear ,the world is a glamorous scenario,if only we as human could make someone happy ,no matter how brief it might seem.How can you make other feel elated and among?what make you glad?how can your life creat positive impact on someone alse's?in conclutin to all these question a friend of my once said"That life would be unreasonable,meaningless,boredom,uninteresting,if we dont have the less privilage in mind and helping other makes us useful to humanity.
I am" STANLEY" while my colleague is "AUGUSTINE",we are both paternaly nigeria and maternally a nigerian.We are up comming musician,who are making a plan to start our music career right here in nigeria.But we have gone through and realise that it will cost us about $20,000 us dollar for our expenses..But we all know that blood is very important to man's body,it control man's power .when you are short of blood ,you lose weight and strengh. so also money ,money make blood to flow,without money blood cannot flow ,all we mean we are short of blood that is money ,and also as the sun goes down so also the day reduces.
hello dear,we need your hand ,we need your help,we need our hands to be bless ,we are here by seeking voluntary volunteer's that is willing and able to encourage us finacially
We are not coercing\forcing any one in this regard,we wqant any sort of assistant at will, no matter how small because we need you and God to move forward in our music career,for your assistant might make us happy ,andaffect the world positively.We knew you dont know us ,even a day .It will be a suprise to you but just take it as the love you have for humanity.Remainber Jesus love every body ,we all should be thesame .Thank you for going through this message with us .we believe that your desition will make's alot of difference and also ,help us to suceed on our music career .If there are important encouragement ,you can write to musicimprove@yahoo.com

This article has blessed me soooo much today. I live with a husband who is very difficult to live with and hasn't worked for a long time and does not want to get another job. My three beautiful sons are now grown and doing well. After being a stay at home mom, I had decided that I had better go back to school to get a full-time career. I am today, a full-time nursing student, who the young teachers give me a hard time, every time I turn around. Even though--I am doing good in the program. The lord blessed me with this program and continues to tell me to persevere (he has since I was saved about 15 yrs. ago). I want to do his will---not mine.
I have become a basket-case in this season of my life. This article--I have printed off and will read it everyday, as I would love to get back to my old optimistic, positive self. Thank you--this article is a true blessing to me today. This is an answered prayer for me. Carolyn ps. please pray for me.

After alot of disappointments and discouragements, it's easy to get into a funk about life's journey. The article's practical tips about overcoming negativity was helpful. Thank you.

There are things that I do when the going gets tough. I'm a military wife and there are many things that happen within 2 weeks of my hubby leaving that ford the opportunity for me to say "it figures". Such as roofing issues, my bathroom ceiling falling in, or my lawn mower dying. I do my best to look at life as an adventure God has set before me. An adventure is not good or bad, just challenging. Without the suspense it wouldn't be an adventure. If life was easy going, I'd take it for granted. Many times people say, if God would only tell me what's next. My answer to that is, then I'd try to change His mind. Scripture is a powerful source. When the going really gets tough. Just remember God tells us to think on these things:
Philippians 4:8 " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
Memorization will really get you through. God Bless.

Great idea! I am a "glass half-empty" girl myself. I try not to say the negative (doesn't always work), but I am going to try your idea of saying 2 positives.

Thanks, Cameron, for these words of wisdom! Just the other day I found myself in the same frame of mind and had to ask God to forgive me and help me to start being grateful for the good and positive things He has done for me. The constant stream of water and friction in a flowing river makes smooth stones out of ragged rocks. So I need to remember that sometimes when things go awry, it is God's way of helping me to become a polished stone in the river of life. It makes a difference on how I view things!

When things don't go my way, I always think of the verse, "trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on your own understanding", because sometimes I just can't figure out what is going on in my life but I know that He does.and as long as I know and trust that He has things under control, even the dumbest things that don't seem to make sense, have a purpose- so I try not to give things too much thought.

I draw great strenght from the word of Joseph to his brothers. I believe whatever negative situation I find my self God will definitely turn it around for good. Afterall the Bible says And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) To be honest, this works all the time and I am able to maintain a state of joy and peace despite having to care for my 4 children under the age of five (including a set of twins!)

I begin to by telling God how i feel, I then remind myself that its not based on my feelings but what his word says. Then i find myself huming a song which lapses into singing. Somehow out of that song a word in season comes and i hang on to that.

Thanks for the good thoughts...I especially love the part about how your humor had crossed over to become pessimissm...what a good reminder...thanks for a great blog!

I have a friend who has recently been diagnosed with a muscular disorder called myasthenia gravis. She is in her 20's and has two small children. She worked as a nurse but can no longer work. There are days she can hardly walk across the room. When I feel depressed because my body is aging and not as young as I used to be, or because I've gained 10 pounds, I remind myself that my legs are healthy and strong and that I can do so much more than many people, and that I have plenty to eat, unlike much of the world. I have to remind myself EVERY DAY to count my blessings. That's what gets me out of the self-pity mode and into the attitude of appreciation and joy. But it's definitely a daily process -- I guess it's human nature but I slip back so easily into thinking whiney thoughts. Thanks be to God for letting us start over again and again!

I have struggled for a long time with pity parties (divorced mum)...over the years God has patiently been teaching me to have an attitude of gratitude. Memorizing bible verses, songs, good friends...all these have helped to change my outlook and also reaching out to others who have so much less than me...I am so blessed, even with 5 kids still at home (17, 18, 18, 20, 24) and a month that is always longer than my salary...my washing machine broke two months ago and I had been washing by hand. Today a friend felt burdened to give me a brand new washing machine...on saturday as I washed clothes by hand and had a grumble I was convicted of the need to give thanks in ALL circumstances...my attitude changed and I was able to thank the Lord that at least I have teenage daughters who help with the washing...as I thanked the Lord He was already at work to provide a new machine...He is indeed very awesome and knows what we need...

Gay son of christian lady you are haveing a difficult time accepting your boy.......He has always been gay. I hope you can accept him as he is . Please dont lay a pathetic guilt trip on him.. It is better to be gay than dead.. Being gay ios not that bad and has been arround for thousands of years.. I will pray for you to accept your son and and find peace... I am the father of a gay son.... I have 5 children and I love them all equally in cluding my gay son...

Living in SA with our high level of crime, rising fuel and food costs, our electricity problems and the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe on our border, it's very easy to see the glass as half empty. Thank you for your reminder to see the glass as half-full. I will endeavour to do this and remind myself to "count my blessings".

It's very easy to be pessimistic in this world. If I'm not careful, I automatically fall into that category. My strategy has always been to just keep in mind that nothing is as bad as I imagine it being or that other people tell me it is. I used this strategy when I was pregnant with my first child. My mother told me that childbirth was no cup of tea. I thought to myself, "nothing can be that bad" and it wasn't. I had a beautiful healthy daughter 5 1/2 hours after labor began. And, I was right, it wasn't that bad. Five years later, I had a son in 4 1/2 hours of labor (with no drugs or shots). Some things really do get me down and it's hard to repeat the mantra of "nothing can be that bad" but I always try think of someone that's been where I am and realize that they emerged a stronger person.

When the "negatives" are getting me down, I pray for Jesus to take captive my thoughts (2 Cor. 10:5) or to put these temptations to self-pity behind Him. (Matt. 16:23) You see, if the enemy can fix our thoughts on ourselves, on the bad things that happen to us, then our thoughts are not on God. This is something it's taken me years to understand, how to put God first in my thoughts. Memorization helps. Constant Bible study helps. Let prayer be first thing in the morning and last thing at night. When in stressful situations, pray. When everything is going well, pray with thanksgiving. Prayer should be our first response to everything, not the last resort.

I have never thought that I am a glass half-full girl... Your article reminds of how pessimistic I have become... It is truely an eye- opening article... Thanks for giving me an opportunity to re-examine me and my perspective on life.

I will try to say at least one positive thing a day to count my blessings. God Bless!

THANKYOU FOR SHARING YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCES WITH SO MANY OF US . I CANT BELIEVE IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS SAME PROBLEM. AS I GREW UP MY DAD OFTEN HAD PESERMISTIC POINTS OF VIEW , HE IS ALSO A CHRISTIAN BUT IS HUMAN AND STRUGGLED WITH THIS. I GUESS THIS IS AGREAT REASON FOR ME TO ASK GOD TO CHANGE MY HEART , SO I MAY BE A BLESSING TO MY 9 MONTH OLD BABY AND NOT A HINDERANCE. I WILL BE PRAYING FOR ALL WHO WILL BE TRYING HARDER TODAY TO BE MORE POSITIVE IN THEIR LIVES . GOD BLESS

Thank you Camerin for that article that reminds us to count our blessings. I would like to comment something about the first person to post a comment on this article miss Myssi. She is only 24 and have completed her M.A, with a great career prospects on the way, dating a wonderful CHRISTIAN guy and she still thinks "Life could be better, more certain".
I don't mean to disregard her feeling, but I thought she has pretty much to be thankful to God about.

If she were in my circumstances, I don't know what she could think of life, being a single lady aged 32 and with no relationship likely to lead to a marriage(or should I say none at all), with a condition full of shame and reproach which began at 14yrs at hasn't gotten better but only worse by each day. This is a condition of having an awful smell from my private area which the numerous doctors I have visited (Gnae's) have not been able to treat or even tell the cause, ant neither has much prayer & fasting seeking the Lord for His mercy and Deliverance yielded much Fruit.

I am also working at a Church organisation (Catholic) where I have to live their faith and not my own (I am the only non-catholic in the whole organisation and te only believer) and so you can't even witness to any one coz they believe they are in the right course and any adamancy towards this may even lead to loss of job.

However, with all this going on in my life, I still find a reason to thank God for the blessings in my life, though most of the time I am really low especially coz of the condition with my health. So i Think we should really learn to count our blessings and see the positive side of everything.

Thank you once again Camerin.
Gos Bless