The 100 Day Challenge, Day 51:
We’ve all heard this before- if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. How about this one- look to find something positive about someone instead of looking for the negative and habitually judging.
How often do you follow this advice? Depending upon who influenced us when we were growing up, this can be difficult to do. I was taught to play “pick apart” when I was young- looking for what was wrong with people- even people I didn’t know. This always bothered me as it goes against my nature. People we look up to teach us things not even knowing that they are doing it. I have worked hard to stay away from that type of behavior and to focus on the good. It takes work for all of us, especially if we are stressed out or tired. When practiced daily, it can become your habit.
Once you start to realize that we are all doing the best we can with wherever we are in life at a particular moment in time, you can start to have more compassion and think positively about others.
This applies to situations, too. How we act or react in different situations are also learned behaviors. It takes becoming conscious of our thoughts and actions to make changes.
You could decide, for the next 24 hours to look for the good in everyone whose path you cross and in every situation that presents itself to you. It may be challenging, but you will learn a lot about yourself in the process. Then you can decide if you want to adjust your thoughts or behaviors based on what you learned.