Stay Positive

Starting the week off with a dose of positive: 

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative. 
W. Clement Stone

(My One Little Word for 2014 is Positive.)

It can be hard to stay positive when you're around people who have phrases like "you can't," "that would never work," and "it's too hard to do it that way,"  embedded in their vocabulary -- and then don't understand why you disagree. 

I had a conversation full of those words at a Deaf event Friday night. I won't go in to details -- they aren't the point. The point is that your attitude does indeed make a huge difference. Negativity is so energy-sapping, a waste of time, and just holds you back from your potential. 

When you're a child, it's so easy to take the words "you can't" as a challenge to go and defy the odds. When you're an adult with an invisible disability, jaded by the years, you start to wonder if the words "you can't" just might be true. You need reminders they're just words, tools to stay strong, positive thinking to push back against the negative.  

Imagine my smile when I opened my blog feed to see today's topic over at Marc and Angel Hack Life  (one of my favorite blogs): 15 Powerful Beliefs that Will Free You from Negativity. Timely advice. And I really like that the author says he has them written down in his journal so he can look at them to keep them fresh in his mind.  I'm printing the list of 15 beliefs out and keeping it in my journal. I hope you do, too.