Day 16 of Lent 2020

What type of person are you? Are you the type of person where most things are positive? Or are you a person where one bad thing happens and it wrecks your day?

I have worked with people where I say, “Boy, I wish I had their positivity!” Even though I am a pretty positive person (most days). I have also been around “When it rains it pours!” type of people and I can easily get sucked into their negativity.

I have tried to teach my students that negativity likes to feed on other negative things in our lives. We get sucked into a vortex of darkness and despair. So when you are feeling that way there are things you can do to get out of that negative funk.

• Write your feelings down in a journal…NOT ONLINE.
• Listen to your favorite music. Music feeds the soul.
• Watch a funny movie. We have to laugh.
• Go for a walk. Exercise is good for everything.
• Talk to your pets. They love to listen to you and keep your secrets.

One time years ago, I was sitting in the teachers’ lounge during lunch and the conversation was quickly turning negative. Teachers were talking about the “bad” students they had and other negative things going on in their day. It was spiraling into a conversation where I felt like the room was filling with a dark cloud. So I tried to flip the conversation into something positive. Guess what?? It worked! The conversation turned into a fun conversation and all the teachers left lunch on a positive note for their kiddos.

We are all going to go through bad stuff in our lives. I am trying to stay positive through all that is going on in my life too. I hope that this blog can give you inspiration and comfort when you are going through the same stuff. We are all in this together.

The book I am reading this Lent is called “40 Things to Give Up for Lent and Beyond” by Phil Ressler. You can pick a copy up at Amazon HERE. There is a fantastic excerpt from this chapter:

Ressler, Phil. 40 Things to Give Up for Lent and Beyond: A 40 Day Devotion Series for the Season of Lent (p. 60). Kindle Edition.

“A powerful lesson I learned is that when something negative happens in your life, the first question to ask is “what does this make possible?” God does not bring the negative events into our lives, but he will open a door through them. Our prayer is God would give us the eyes to see the opportunity he is putting before us.”

So keep looking up, stay positive, find something that will get you out of your negative storm, and good things will happen in God’s time.