Staying Positive Despite it all.....

May 2013 is about to be relegated to the dustbin of history.   It has been a good month on some fronts--but also a challenging month on others.    Today's New York Times featured images of Spain as Riot Police confronted off duty firefighters who were protesting pay cuts.    Public Schools were being shut down in Chicago.  Austerity seems to be the "call to action" by most Governments despite clear indications otherwise.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Letters with Ricin were sent to Michael Bloomberg and President Obama by those who protested Gun Control because Mayor Bloomberg and the President had the courage to take on the Gun Lobby (or as Lawrence O Donnell of MSNBC noted--merchants of death).    Syria continues to burn as Russia delivered new weapons to "fulfill a contract.    This is as Worldwide Economic Forecasts continue to be lowered downward by the OECD.

With the World as it is, it is not easy to stay positive and upbeat.    But, as RFK once said quoting George Bernard Shaw, we have to ask why we can't have a better World.   We have to strive for it.  There is no other choice--is there?      I was thinking about this as I reflected upon this admonition that my Old Friend Jim sent to me:

You cannot instantly change the situation by being positive about it. What you can instantly change is your perspective, and that will give you an enormous advantage. 

Even when there’s no good justification for being positive, be positive. Because it is always far superior to the alternative, and gives you maximum power and effectiveness.

Being positive is a choice you can make that will connect you to the best possibilities. Being positive forces you to also be positively creative.

When things are difficult, do you really want to make them even more difficult by being negative? Choose instead to realistically see the situation for what it is, and then to be positive about moving forward from it.

Eventually, somebody is going to change things for the better, and it might as well be you. Think and see and do from a positive perspective and create good, meaningful value.

By being positive you are being powerful, useful, thankful, compassionate, sincere and highly effective. Make the choice to be positive, and truly make the world a better place.

— Ralph Marston