Positive Response To Situations

More often than not, how you respond to what has happened is what will determine the eventual result of your life, not necessarily what has happened per se. That is, your reaction to an occurrence normally holds more importance than the occurrence itself. This is why you have to look beyond what the situation suggests and focus more on how you respond to it. The same thing might happen to two different people and they will react differently to it and they will eventually have two different results.

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I once saw a very funny meme where two two people; Sir Isaac Newton and Steve Jobs saw an apple falling from a tree. The first man, Isaac Newton, quickly related it to physics and from it, he formed the legendary Newton's second law of motion, which is represented by F=m×a. Steve Jobs also saw the same apple and got an inspiration from it, and he created the Apple incorporation (Makers of iPhone, etc). Even though this is a funny meme, but it passes a message across that the way we respond to a situation is what will matter at the end and will also determine what you make out of the situation.

I remember a time when there was scarcity of water in the place I grew up many years ago. It happened that the road construction workers mistakenly damaged the pipe that supplied water to the neighbourhood and as such, water was cut off from there, and it would take about 3 weeks to be fixed because the road would have to be completed first. In the time, a lot of people were complaining of lack of water and would trek to the next street to fetch water. A few days after it happened, a particular guy that owned a mini truck saw it as a business opportunity.

He went around, got some empty gallons and received orders from people within the neighbourhood and would use his mini truck to get water to the houses of the people, then he would be paid for his services. Adorably, within the 3 weeks he ran the business, he made some really good money from it and it was like a side-hustle for him since he was in his annual leave from his main job. While others saw the breakage of the pipe as something negative and bad, he saw it as a business opportunity which he took advantage of and it turned out good for him.

One of the things that I have learnt in life is that things are not necessarily the way they appear. There are opportunity even in the midst of what looks like a negative situation. The only way you need to make the most out of it is to look beyond what you see. Optimistic people will always find a glimpse of ray of light even in the midst of the night. They will always see opportunities even where others see difficulties. But pessimistic people will see difficulties even when everyone else sees opportunity.

To be able to have a positive response to any situation, you need to work on yourself to be more open-minded. Then create a positive mindset within you that will give you the enabling condition to focus on the positive side of everything that happens.

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The truth is that no matter what happens, if you want to see positivities in it, you will. In the same way, if you want to see negativities in it, you will also see. The ability to see good in every bad situation is simply a matter of choice. Similarly, seeing bad in every good is still a matter of choice.

Your perception will definitely influence your choice. Where you focus your dominant attention on is what will determine your actions, responses and reactions. You can determine, to a considerably fair extent, the turn of events in your life by the way you respond to what has happened or is happening around you. But more importantly, what is happening in you has more influence on you than what is happening around you. So if you can control yourself from within - that is your actions and inactions, then it will be easier for you to have influence on the world around you. I conclude with this thought-provoking statement that was made by a friend:

Your situation only becomes bad when you have accepted it to be bad. But it remains good as long as you see positivities and possibilities in it.

Thanks for reading