Have you ever thought, “I was in great mood until blank happened?”  When we allow blank (whatever blank is at the moment) to affect how we feel we are in essence relinquishing our power and allowing circumstances to control our emotions.  If we allow our circumstances to control our emotions we become a victim of our circumstances.  The truth is; circumstances don’t dictate how we feel we do!  It is always our choice!

Here are 5 Rays to help you rise above your circumstances and live life on the sunny side!

Entitlement Expectations
SPF
Labeling
Mindful Talk
Celebration

This month we will cover Entitlement Expectations and SPF!

Ray 1 – Entitlement Expectations
Here is where we often lose our positive…we judge our circumstances based on our expectations. I call this judgment “Entitlement Expectations”. What I mean by “Entitlement Expectations” is that we expect a certain relationship, event, thing, or outcome. When our expectations aren’t met we judge our life as less than and get frustrated, angry or disappointed. Haven’t we all felt; this should have happened, or I deserved this or I expected that. These are examples of “Entitlement Expectations”. To avoid “Entitlement Expectations” it is necessary to embrace the following concepts:

Life is uncertain!

Life is unexpected!

Everything is temporary!

No one owes us anything!

There is humor even in difficult situations!

Life can change in a moment!

When we embrace these concepts we learn to stop judging our circumstances as less than regardless of what they are!

Ray 2 – SPF
SPF is an acronym for “Super Positive Focus”! Yes I will confess I am an acronym addict! Regardless of what the circumstances are there is always positive somewhere even in the most negative of situations! You just need to look for it. Developing a “Super Positive Focus” means you look for and focus on the positive even in the darkest of situations. Think about all the tragedies from the storms. One huge positive was all the people helping each other to overcome and survive. You can develop your SPF by forming a habit of identifying what’s positive in every situation. Even if the only thing positive was the lesson you learned to never do it again! You grew from the experience and that is a positive!

Tune in next month to learn more ways to live a life on the sunny side!