So you must be wondering why I am writing about this topic. So much has been happening around me, I don’t have time to put things into detail but I feel like this is a good topic to raise. I have tried to be a consistent blogger but it’s difficult when I find myself really busy with things that I have to do but I just want to let you know (you the reader) that I’m still here.

The reason why I am bringing this up is because it is something that everybody faces at some point in their lives. I have had a few disappointments in terms of the encounters I have had with several individuals that seem to be there for you one moment and totally abandon you the next. Sometimes we are disappointed because of negative outcomes for things we hoped for, or because life seems unfair and nothing good seems to be working in our lives. I am speaking in general terms for the purpose of this topic so that you can understand that disappointments are inevitable occurences. Disappointments are not phenomenons, they are expected at some point in our lives but it’s how we respond to disappointments that counts.

The idea here is that we should not engage in a habit of self-pity. Self-pity is misery that wants company in my books and truly…when I encounter individuals with this state of mind…I always warn them not to RSVP me in their pity-party invites. Why mention self-pity? We can easily fall into traps of thinking negative thoughts that produce a negative personality and an obscure way of looking at things in life that attribute to unhealthy life-style choices. Do not engage in entertaining negative thoughts since they produce negative emotions and characters as a result. The main point is that we must engage in positive thought patterns and make an effort to change how we see a negative outcome or incident. Overcomers typically have positive thought patterns that allow them to lead more successful and productive lives. If you want to have such traits, you must begin by making the effort to choose to think positive.

Positive thinking doesn’t “just happen”, you have to use your will to change the way you think. It is not a simple task and hence you are required to make a conscious effort to change your patterns of thinking.

Do not get me wrong here in that I know that realistically, there are varying degrees of disappointments that a person may encounter at different periods in their life, but each disappointment can be overcomed by how you look at a situation. We tend to lean towards negative thought patterns when things do not go “our way” or when people hurt us in different ways but the only person that can keep you happy is YOU. The only person that can change this outlook is also YOU.

Remaining positive minded is a choice thing and it is also a disciplined practice as well. You choose how to react, you choose how to respond and you choose the actions that you want to take. Notice how everything is all on you to take that step to transform your way of thinking.  Renew your mind and think thoughts that give you pleasant feelings.  Now having said that, I will reiterate that it takes a conscious effort to change your way of thinking. Life has a way of throwing curve-balls at you but it is at these times that you need to keep your wits about you. This isn’t the time for you to break-down, but because of how reality knocks at us, we cannot underestimate the fragility of our minds to break when encountered with disappointments.

Disappointments can accompany many negative emotions such as despair, discouragement, hopelessness, fear, rejection, sadness, confusion, anger, regret etc, but these emotions can last for a short period or a prolonged period based on how we entertain these negative thoughts. It’s easy for people to become easily ensnared by negative thought patterns if they have not practiced positive thinking and positive responses to negative actions. Disappointments also have a way of eating at the very core of our self-esteem and can lead us to have poor self-image problems if we are not careful enough to guard our minds from over-brooding negative situations and experiences in our lives.

Why do I advocate “positive thinking”? I have seen that in my life, I have had various degrees of disappointments that have even led to suicidal thought patterns, so I know that if you over-brood on the negative, you will definitely affect your destiny by gravitating towards poor life choices and negative personalities. In effect, such a poor personality can cause people to be drawn away from you thus resulting in self-isolation and eventually, the path of a negative mindset leads to a treacherous path of uncertainty in your future. In other words, you can easily loose your way and apathy can begin to build up if you don’t curb your way of processing the things you are experiencing. Why would I over dramatize my last comment? Because I speak from experience.

Negative personalities affect others around you believe it or not. You can impact others with the way you respond to things. How you respond to negative experiences will affect how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. There were times when I thought life was hopeless and meaningless and I left my mind idle to detrimental thought patterns. I thought that there was no light at the end of the tunnel in certain situations where some individuals whom I thought were “friends” did things that utterly disappointed me and left me to think that “this is why I loose hope in humanity”. Essentially, it doesn’t matter who wronged me, the point is, is that I had already entertained dark thoughts that were not productive in my walk in life. I had to force myself to think differently. Positive minded people are attractive whereas the opposite is also true…negative people deter people.

To cultivate a positive mind, you can nuture it by surrounding yourself with “like-minded” individuals. This is a tough one since your peers can easily succumb to negative thought processes due to the stresses of life and other things that life has to offer. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to transform your thought life to a positive streamlined way of thinking. You determine your destiny by renewing your mind to think of good things. Meditate on things that are productive. This is not to say that you’ll never feel bad emotions in your life, but what I am saying is that you can overcome these emotions by not entertaining them for long periods of time and learning to overcome them by training your mind to think on the “bright side”. Life is a gift but we can make it a curse if we brood in negativity. In the end, it’s all up to YOU!