Look on the bright side......

Ashley and I the morning of Gulf Coast 2008. Photographer.... Marit!

Routinely I am asked how it is possible that I am so positive. People lurk and wait..... there's gotta be a day when she's down, or that positivity must be medically induced. No one is that positive. No one.

Well I am.

How is it possible? Is it medically induced? Am I just showing one side of myself and carefully censoring the bad days?

Nope, nah, nada, sorry to disappoint.

Censor the bad days? Have you not heard I didn't finish IMLP? That was a pretty darn bad day. Yet.... oh no positive spin..... it still wasn't the worst day of my life.

I spent much of my childhood being pretty sad. In particular ages 10-20 when I battled Bulimia. I remember those years as being dark, horrible and sad. You couldn't pay me to return to that life.

I remember as I embarked on my recovery..... in the hospital..... I remember making the choice to be happy. To instead look at the glass as half full instead of half empty. Does it always work? Well eventually. I might react and then have to take a few steps back...... because if there is one thing I have learned in this life I have learned that no matter what.... there is always a silver lining.

When I got married and became a mother I set some basic rules for myself..... I would live in a house without screaming (I grew up in that house), I would always show my son the positive rather than the negative.... and that I would be his example.

We all know those people who are incessantly negative. They drag you down. In my world if I ave nothing positive to say then I will remain silent. Most of the time ;-).

Do I have the recipe nailed? No. Am I perfect? I just choked on my coffee.

I am not striving to be perfect. I am striving to be positive. There's so much in life, the big picture that we can look to when things are not going right. There's always the silver lining.... if you take the time to look hard enough.

And whatever hardship I happen to be facing..... in someone else's world they are facing something so much worse.

So give it a try, just for a day. If you find yourself staring down the glass of the half empty look to the sky. That silver lining is there. Look hard for it. And if you are patient enough you just might even see the rainbow behind it.