We currently are being bombarded by tremendous negativity from candidates of both political parties. How does what you are hearing affect you? Are you finding yourself tending to believe the familiar line from a childhood nursery rhyme, "the sky is falling?" If you recall, this folk tale is about a chicken that believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase "The sky is falling!" features prominently in the story, and has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating an hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent. Versions of the story go back more than 25 centuries and continues to be referenced in a variety of media.

 

Predecessor of the recent, well-known book, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, Earl Nightingale, writer, speaker and author of The Strangest Secret, wrote, "We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret." These two books have a lot in common although written years apart.

How do you see yourself in today's world?

 

Now that you are retired, what do you think about most of the time? Can you generalize your response as "positive" or "negative"? Of course, your thinking is segmented: family, friends, future, health, income, activities, politics, religion, and so much more. Do you find yourself leaning in a more positive or more negative way in each category?

 

Drilling down a bit more, dwell for a moment on the word "future." Does that ring a positive bell or a negative bell? What exactly do you think about when you wake up in the morning, when you are chatting with friends, when you are in a relaxed state? Hopefully, your response is positive.

 

If we see ourselves in a positive way, we can then perceive the world in the same manner and act accordingly. For example, if we believe or expect a talk we're giving will go well, chances are multiplied that it will. If we expect positive reactions from people, we will usually get them. If we have a good opinion of ourselves, we will approach others in the same manner, seeing the positive in them first.

 

It is easy to fall into negativity when that is what we are hearing every day on the television and reading in the newspapers. To counter the negativity pit, I collected quotes that rang true for me, and I divided them into days to be read. I start each day reading the following words of others whose philosophy I admire. Take a look and choose which ones ring true for you. Compile a list of your own and read them daily.

 

 

"Opportunities don't happen. You create them." Chris Grosser

 

"The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it." Henry Ford

 

"Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending." Carl Bard

 

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." Diane Ackerman

 

"Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever." Peter Haggerty

 

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes." Andrew Carnegie

 

"We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark." Whoopi Goldberg

 

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." Oprah Winfrey

 

"In life, one has a choice to take one of two paths: to wait for some special day--or to celebrate each special day." Rasheed Ogunlaru

 

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within." Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

 

"Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love." Brené Brown

 

"You get in life what you have the courage to ask for." Nancy D. Solomon

 

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." Mark Twain