Focus on the Positive

I was reading Viva magazine today and came across an awesome quote from Sheila Lewis of British Columbia. She was speaking with one of the contributors to the magaazine and said "Would you rather live your life keeping an inventory of self-hate, or look back on your life and count all the ways you found your life to be beautiful?"

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Sometimes we get so caught up in beating ourselves up and focusing on the negative aspects of our lives (fitness, work, relationships, whatever) that we forget to appreciate the positive aspects. As I've said before, we need to start giving ourselves (and others for that matter) a break. We're not perfect. We can strive to be the very best that we can be. But if we miss a goal, if we let someone down, we (and they) need to understand that we're not perfect. We can only be the best we can be. And that changes with every person. We all have our own unique qualities.

Sometimes I get really hard and down on myself. I'm not making the progress I want to make as fast as I want to make it. The important thing is I'm working on it. And that I don't quit. I've done that too many times in the past. But I'm on a roll and I think I've basically changed my outlook which has helped with everything else.

So remember ... instead of focusing on all the crap in your life ... focus on the beautiful things ... your friends, your family, sunrises, sunsets ... whatever makes you smile and feel good inside.