“If you want light to come into your life, you need to
stand where it is shining.”
~ Guy Finley
With all the problems and uncertainty in the world right now, maintaining a positive attitude can be a challenge. Each time we turn on the news, listen to the radio or talk with friends and colleagues we are bombarded with negativity and anxiety about the future. What we intuitively know however is that we can only negotiate change with grace and creativity when we feel positive and hopeful.
So how do we keep ourselves feeling positive and hopeful?
Well the answer is simple, commit to nurturing and caring for our selves each and every day. When we nurture ourselves we can transform our perceptions colored by fear and scarcity into trust and positive expectation. Coming from this filled up place allows us to feel renewed and rejuvenated and capable of handling any challenges we may face.
In addition, the joy we feel when we are deeply nurtured expresses itself as positivity, hopefulness and open heartedness in our daily lives. This positivity influences everything in our lives from how we perceive challenges, to how we respond to difficult people and situations, and even how we receive abundance and blessings.
The beautiful thing is that our positivity and hopefulness fuel each other and this empowering cycle is effortlessly maintained.
So if you want to feel positive and hopeful it is essential to create practices of self-nurturing that nourish your joy and positive attitude. You can start with my Top 5 Ways to Create Peace and Joy in Your Day and then add more activities to your self-nurturing practice.
You may also ask the following clarifying questions:
1. Where in your life could you use more positive energy and perspective?
2. What self-nurturing practice could you start today that would fuel your positivity and hopefulness?
3. What difference have you noticed in how you respond to your life when you are feeling positive?
4. How is being positive and hopeful an asset in your life?
Nurturing our hope and positive attitude improves our ability to gracefully handle life challenges, increases our confidence and uplifts our perspective and attitude. Although we cannot control many things in life, we can choose how we respond.
As Viktor Frankl reminds us, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” And our choices create ripple effects in the world!
May you choose to intentionally nurture yourself in order to cultivate more positivity and hope in your life and may you nurture peace in the world from the inside out!
Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,
Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker
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I agree self nurturing creates the sense of safety we long for. I am adding in some extra for myself today, Thanks so much for the reminder Kelley!
I am so happy to hear that you will be nurturing yourself more today Lisa! Thank you so much!
Powerful questions that I will take to my journal today, Kelley. This is a great article and message that I needed to hear today. Blessings and gratitude!
I am so thrilled to hear that Minette! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I love that we have the power to nurture peace in the world from the inside out.
These times call for an extra focus on caring for ourselves. Thank you for sharing some great suggestions and for pointing the way, Kelley!
You are so right Laurie and in times of uncertainty and challenge let’s remind ourselves that we have the power to choose how we will respond. Will we add more conflict in the world or more love? I choose love and the only way I can do that is by being loving to myself. Thank you so much for your comment!
Thanks Kelley for your thoughtful post. Staying positive and hopeful is indeed important is these uncertain times.
Thank you so much Pamela! It would be easy to be filled with despair with all the challenges and uncertainty of our times but I feel more empowered staying positive and finding the places in my life I can make a difference. I appreciate your comment!
I am reminded of how much better I do when I view discomfort and disturbance as a cue rather than a “thing.” Is there something I need to do? Or stop doing? What do I need more (or less) of?
And thanks for the Frankl quote. “Man’s Search for Meaning” is a favorite.
There is so much we can learn from our discomfort Andrea and I agree that looking at feelings as cues can be instructive and insightful. Understanding that we have a choice in our response is not only empowering but give meaning to the experience. Viktor Frankl is a hero of mine and that quote is also a favorite. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment!
God I do love this post. Its such a beautiful reminder for me. I especially love the Victor Frankl quote and your words with it: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” And our choices create ripple effects in the world!
xoxo, Z~
Thank you so much Zeenat! Understanding we have choice is so powerful and transformative and Viktor Frankl’s quotes sums it all up. I really appreciate your comment!
Thank you Kelley for writing such a beautiful inspiring gentle loving reminder to take extra gentle loving care of ourselves. It’s amazing, but always Divine timing, several of my Mystic SiStar Love friends I connect with online via fb and social media, continue to gently lovingly remind me about my self-love self-care. I am a very hard working writer and disabled Mommy of a disabled special needs child who is very demanding of me and I have to go the extra mile to be extra tlc good to me and feel good every chance I get. Much Love Gratitude Blessings. I Love this.
I am so grateful you found my blog supportive and encouraging Dayna and that you are receiving gentle, loving reminders to nurture yourself. I cared for my daughter with chronic health challenges for almost two decades and so I understand some of the demands you face. My commitment to and passion for self-nurturing grew out of my personal experience of realizing I needed to prioritize caring for myself so that I could truly care for my daughter. I really appreciate your heart filled comment and am sending you so much peace, love and gratitude!
Great post Kelley! So true, it requires intentional choice and commitment! Love the clarifying questions as journaling prompts! great quote by Viktor Frankl!