Every so often I share an email update with friends and family on how our lives are progressing on our new adopted country.
In my latest update – which was a long one as I was covering two months that included the festive season – I talked about events in my usual fun, matter-of-fact style. I had not thought about how I was writing the words or how it would be interpreted as these were people who knew me. It was just what had been happening, that’s was all.
A friend replied to me, sharing a fantastic positive experience that she instigated for her company. As a training manager, it had an amazing impact that affected every person involved, and this had been fed back to her by all.
She then pointed out something that I had not given a though to in my email. Let me share this with you.
“One of our keynote speakers was a psychologist who presented in a very humorous way the hard facts (actual research papers) relating to happiness and positivity. The magic ratio appears to be 5:1. Truly happy people have a ratio of 5 positive thoughts, feelings and stimulus to one negative. Surround yourself with positive like-minded people and bingo it’s contagious.
So what’s the point to this experience sharing of mine? In your newsletter you have proved the theory right. So much could have been gloom – cancelled flight, cloudy Christmas, 12-hour drive, no coal to first foot, the list goes on … but each of these you have turned into a positive and got the ratio about right. It’s not so much that bad things don’t happen to you but more the fact that you deal with them in a positive way.”
I’m not sharing this to show you how great I am as many people live in the same way I do; just to share that it is the attitude and belief systems that you choose that determine how you shape, enjoy and live your life.
Live the best life you can!