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Creating a positive outlook
By Eva Menon


Growing up, I dreamed of changing the world by becoming a famous scientist, social worker, or important person. I thought only “important people” could have an impact. Now I believe that each and every one of us can make a positive difference to one person and thereby change the world. What if each of us reading this article were to start a chain reaction today? It is easy! Give a compliment, help someone, listen, be friendly. Even very small gestures can affect people positively for the rest of their lives. In the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha”, an older man was the first person who was kind to a little girl. That act changed the focus and shape of her life.

The place to begin is in our homes and with ourselves and our families. We live in a very negative and violent world. Negativity is like a virus and it infects everything we see and everything we do. The news is negative; TV shows are very negative and violent. I recently went to a high school play with my 7-year-old nephew, Nolan. The play was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I asked Nolan if he was a little scared. It was a very intense play for a 7 year old. He said ”No it is only murder. I am very used to murder.” He is 7 years old, he usually does not watch nighttime TV yet he is very used to murder. How? Why? We wake up in the morning and begin the day grumbling and do not even notice.

Suppose you decide in the evening before to go to bed to wake up and be positive. How? Find something you are grateful for, then before you get out of bed, be grateful for your bed, your family, your job, your eyes, your muscles, the sky, or whatever you choose. There are joys and blessings we do not even notice. We always find what we are looking for. What you put your attention to will grow. Put your attention on the negative, it will grow. Put it on the positive and it will grow. When you share it with someone it becomes bigger still.

There is a game we play at my house that my kids think is silly. I find something pretty or positive to point out to my kids daily. When they hear it, they say “It is soo loooovely!! It is sooo beauuuutiful” and call me goofy. But they leave the house with a smile, and a job. The job is that they must come home with something positive to share or I will keep pointing out what is pretty, good and wonderful. They tell me I am so stupid, this is dumb, but I keep on doing it. They are now in college living on their own or in graduate school. I still email them something I saw or did that was wonderful and beautiful or funny. Now they do the same with me and with my husband. It helps create a positive environment in our home. Do I do it always? No, but I try daily.

We share our problems and challenges as well, but always later, not when you first come home. If we can establish a positive environment in our home then our kids and partners will be more likely to want to come home and bring their friends. It is a place in which they feel safe physically and emotionally. They never have to be afraid there will be something that may hurt them. If we can do that in our homes it is much more likely that we will be able to extend it to our schools and places of work. Our school and work life always mirrors our home lives. We can either be a role model with our positive behavior or we can encourage the negative. Which would you rather do?

I challenge all of you for the next week find at least 10 things you are grateful for and see if you do not learn to notice the positive, the beautiful, and the good. Teach at least one person to do the same. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain.