“…and he returned to see the carcass of the lion and behold there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.”— Judges 14:8 [Bible]
Setbacks walk into our lives when we least expect. Hard times oftentimes jab us from our blind side. Sometimes, the forces of nature seem to just be at war with us. The challenge, however, is not what happens to us but… how react to them. The negativity that tries to drown us is not as important as the positivity that we rely on to stay afloat!
Back in our Maths class in school, we were taught that two negatives can make a positive. In other words, there’s a potential positive in every negative. There’s a fortune in every misfortune. An adversity, sometimes, is only a misplaced opportunity. Setbacks are oftentimes opportunities turned upside down.
Most inventions were borne out of setbacks. When we take advantage of our negatives, we can unleash the positive inside us.
There’s a positive in every negative. It all depends on how you look at it. There’s some honey in every carcass. All you need to do is to find it. We have no control over what happens to us. However, what matters most is how we react to such. We have no power over the negativity that may ever flood our path. However, how positive we stay lies very much in our power!
A successful man is not without challenges. A great man is not one who has never encountered any negative in life. However, the force of their positivity outshines every ill that may ever come their way. It doesn’t matter the flood of challenges they may ever come across. The positive energy inside is enough to sail them through.
Many a times, we allow life’s storms to bully us because we focus all our energies on the negative instead of positive. We pay more attention to what we have lost and not what we could possibly gain. A half-filled glass can be half empty or half full depending on how you look at it. In the same vein, your storms can be a negative or positive… still depending on how one perceives it.
If all one can see is the loss, that’s all they may see. If one can, however, see beyond just the loss, they will take advantage of every adversity that comes their way. When we focus our attention on the good in every adversity, our perception towards life will change.
You choose what you see. All the pessimist chooses to see is today. All the optimist chooses to see is tomorrow. What drowns the pessimist, the optimist rides on them. Just like the carcass of a lion can bring forth honey, so can every adversity birth forth some sweetness in our lives. It’s all about what we choose to see!
When all the pessimist is seeing is the carcass, all the optimist is seeing is the honey that may spring forth. There’s always an opportunity in any setback. Some disappointments may lead us to even better appointments. It’s all about how we react to those disappointments and setbacks. The negative that happens to us is negligible. The positive, however, that we use to counteract the negative is what indeed is significant.
Our attitude towards setbacks is everything. The right frame of mind to approach whichever storm that life hurls at us is what really matters. The magnitude of the force that gets us going should always be greater than the magnitude of force that resists us. Airplanes are able to move because the force to move ahead is greater that the force of the wind that resists them. Magnify your positivity!
Wipe your tears. No one will feel pity for you forever. No matter the magnitude of the storms, boost your magnitude of positivity to overcome them. There’s some positivity in every storm. The fact that you haven’t found it yet doesn’t mean it’s not there. There’s some goodness in every mess. Find it.
Life may jab us with all manner of negatives. However, it behooves on us to keep smiling because of the positive we can see therein. You may have lost your job but you can still see it as an opportunity to start something on your own. You may have lost your marriage. You have two choices; either to be all bitter about marriage or all excited about becoming a better spouse next time. There’s a negative and positive in every negative. You decide what you find!
You can decide to see every open door as a trap or opportunity. You can choose to be all bitter about almost everything because of your past experiences or all excited about the new opportunities your future holds. You choose what you see.
We don’t have power over what life presents to our eye view. However, we choose what we see. We can choose to see either all the negatives that we have now or all the positives that are yet to come. After every mourning is a morning. Even in the midst of all the pain, there’s some gain. There’s something new to learn. Find it the positive in spite of all the negatives!
Hard times are bound to come. Life will sometimes get sour. That notwithstanding, we can still find the sweetness therein. No matter how bitter the carcass may taste, honey can still be found inside. Out of every negative springs forth a positive. Out of every challenge comes forth a solution.
No matter the magnitude of the negative, there’s still some positive inside. You must find that positive.
By Kobina Ansah
The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications (www.scribecommltd.com).