JERUSALEM is a dusty city though it has much history and a beauty of its own. I have never seen a sunset as spectacular as one in Jerusalem. The sky can glow a brilliant orange behind red and purple clouds. We never seemed to get away from dust in Jerusalem, so I appreciate the story of a newcomer to the holy land who learned about the dusty breezes. She was visiting an antique shop and the proprietor wiped down every item before showing it.
The newcomer said, “Everything gets dusty here pretty quickly, doesn’t it?” “That’s not dust, honey,” the shop owner replied. “That’s history!” Here was a person who took a negative and turned it into something positive. That made the problem more palatable – easier to swallow, or at least live with. And face it. There are some things, like the weather, we can’t change. All we can change is our attitude toward them. I believe one of the best techniques to do this is to find something positive in the situation. Finding the positive side of a difficulty, an irritation or a troublesome problem can be one of the most creative and effective things we can do.
A Hong Kong shopping center manager was informed that an escalator broke. He posted a sign to warn customers. He opted not to use the traditional “Out of Order” or “Do Not Use” warnings. Instead, his sign read, “This Escalator Is Temporarily a Stairway.” He turned a minus into humor and made it a plus. Sometimes the only sense you can make of a situation is a sense of humor.
How are you at finding the positive side? Let me assure you there is something positive to everything in life. There have been many authors whose whole manuscripts were burnt accidentally, and who cried awhile and then went back to writing. John Stuart’s maid accidentally burnt the manuscript of Carlyle. Carlyle was distraught with agony over something he had spent thousands of hours writing, but he just buckled up and wrote it all over again, and said later that this time it was even more powerful than his previous work.
I have seen this happen very often when I write, what I think is a good column, suddenly my computer sends it beyond the great beyond, and I feel terrible, but I get down to it and write all over again, and have always found I’ve written better. So, if you are feeling down because of something negative in your life, turn it around and make the whole experience a positive one. You’ll come out stronger in the process..!
