Daily Inspiration 12-28-10

"He talks positive but speaks negative."

-- Terry Minion

"How many legs does a dog have

if you call the tail a leg? Four.

Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

-- Abraham Lincoln

Today I was thinking of some people I know who talk positive and speak negative. That phrase just came to me this morning, and I thought it was an interesting play on ideas, and at the same time, says it the way it seems to be with a number of people.

These are people who claim to have a positive outlook, and claim to see a brighter future ahead, yet who are so stained by the reality what is going on right now or in the recent past that they say one thing and really believe another. It's not quite a complete contradiction, but more an optimistic pessimism--or, perhaps a more common way to say it, they'll believe it when they actually see it. Of course, what they are seeing is what they are really believing and that is not the brighter future, but the current reality. So, to not seem like a negative person, because everyone knows that person is a loser, they talk positive things when they can muster the energy. In politics, they call it the spin.

But, I love what Abraham Lincoln says, "calling it a leg, doesn't make it a leg."

Now, to be fair, this person has been myself and I may still demonstrate a bit of that outlook from time to time, but now it is so little and so easily recognized, and I think that is the real key to relaxing the contradiction. I need to recognize quickly when it is happening and then to get back on track to stay in the positive realm. Learning to really hear and pay attention to what is coming out of my mouth, or even in my self-talk so that I can recognize the shift and make the adjustment has helped me immensely.

For most of my life, I talked positive and spoke negative and some people even thought I was positive, but underneath I was an angry, negative person. It is thankfully true that an old dog can and has learned new tricks.

If We Didn't Learn From Our Own Mistakes, We Would Continually Repeat Them. The Same Goes With Our Thinking.

Spread Some Joy Today--Guess what!? You can change any time you decide to. Maybe today is a good day for a bit of change. Here's a good start: buy the book, (or download for free online), As A Man Thinketh.