The cliché “glass is half full” line has never done much for me. Like most clichés - it is founded on something real, but loses its meaning as it gets overused, or misused.

I have never considered myself an optimist by nature - but am learning a great deal these days about the Power of thought, and the choices we have each and every moment about how we think - and what we think about. This Power is a change agent like no other. And I am a big believer that we are all changing in life. Our personalities are only set in stone if we choose that path.

As I move towards intentionally choosing to embrace and tune my mind towards more Positive thinking - I would like to share my thoughts on this topic as part of my own personal “change management” program.

I feel that in the past several years, I have been naturally progressing towards a more positive outlook on life. This seems to be an outcome of inner work on several other items that I didn’t even know were related. The take away, however, is that I am not “by nature” an optimistic person.

As fate would have it, my family history is quite the opposite.

I grew up with a group of people that seemed almost comfortable with pain and suffering. I don’t mean this disrespectfully, as I love them very much. I don’t mean to judge them either. We all have our own journey to figure out. It wasn’t even the quality that stuck out most to me as I grew up. What I remember most about my parents is their unconditional love and acceptance… their lack of judgement towards others. I feel so blessed to have spent the time with them that I did. I can only hope some of their good nature rubbed off on me :)

But as I work on looking at life through a different lens, it is obvious to me now, in retrospect of course, why I struggled so greatly at times in my life.

I will preface the rest of this discussion with the note that I have NO real knowledge of quicksand aside from what I saw in movies growing up. Not sure how much research went into Abbott & Costello movies - but the *idea* of quicksand certainly stuck in my mind!

Negative thinking is like quicksand.

It seems you can just be walking along a path in life, and WHAMMO - you step onto ground that is no longer solid beneath your feet. You begin to sink before you even know why. The sinking is slow… and of course, your natural tendency is to look at your feet - at the ground - at what appears to be the source of the problem to try to figure it out. Of course, your natural tendency is to try to move your feet and legs, to try to run away from it.

As you sink, a negative thinker may overly generalize the situation with thoughts like these: “Why does this always happens to me. I am not going to get out of this one. This is all my fault. I should have chosen a different path. Why did that guide send me this way? He must not like me.” And with every negative thought, you fight harder and harder to get away from the sinking feeling.

And as any student of the movies can tell you, struggling after you have fallen into quicksand will only hasten your descent. The more you struggle, the faster you sink. The faster you sink, the greater your fears begin to grasp you and swallow up your perception until you are completely convinced there is no way out. You quickly exhaust yourself, and all the while you have seemingly only done what seems right and natural - tried to get out.

Positive thinking takes little effort. It is not about force. It is not about expending your precious resources and life force. You act when you *know* you need to, or when you want to - you know because you are in the moment… you are able to be in the moment because you have not filled your mind with fears and doubts about the future.

A Positive thinker may never encounter quicksand in life.

But even if you have trained your mind to think only Positive thoughts, this alone may not help you avoid the quicksand altogether.

The difference between a Positive thinker and a negative thinker, based on my experiences to date, is that a Positive thinker won’t struggle with the quicksand. This person will not begin to over think the situation… they don’t blame themselves, or the world. They don’t assume they will sink and die… in fact, it’s quite the opposite.

A Positive thinker *knows* this is a temporary state, and as such, this person is Open and is Attuned to the possibilities surrounding them.

They may see a branch nearby upon which they can rely to slowly and gently pull themselves out. They may detect solid ground within reach, and simply lean over and begin to pull themselves before they are really stuck.

Or, they may simply go about their mental business - day dreaming about what they might want for dinner, or about the great things they will accomplish and see on their walk once they get unstuck… and as they do this without struggle, they almost float in the quicksand… they sink so slowly that to an outside observer, they seem to not be stuck at all… and eventually, some like minded person will come along and lend a hand. The effort involved will be light, of course, because the Positive thinking person is barely entrenched at all.

This is the difference. It is not magical, or mysterious. It is within the grasp of every person. It is a simple matter of choice. Unfortunately, many people do not see their own power. There are many stumbling blocks responsible for this - but that is the topic for another time.