Positive attitude is a personal choice. It is a life strategy, a decision.
---------------------------------------
Be Positive
A Practice Speech in a Stanford Continuing Education Program
July 13, 2004
Life
is full of ups and downs. Otherwise, it would be very boring. Some
people tend to pick only black and blue and indulge in self-pity and
endless complaint. Look at bright colors as well and enjoy the full
spectrum of life.
Why be positive?
You
do not need 200 points in an IQ test to enjoy life. You may argue that
you are not foolish enough to be blindly happy. But do not let your
high intelligence ruin your ability to appreciate the beauty of life.
You can be intelligent and happy at the same time. Positive attitude is
a personal choice; you choose to be positive. Positive attitude is a
life strategy; you recognize the existence of dark side of life but you
plan yourself not to be distracted by noises. Positive attitude is a
firm decision; you are determined to concentrate on important things in
life, i.e., appreciation and creation.
Life is a gift, just
like a large basket of marbles; if you spend a lot of time on picking
out the ones you do not like, you would not have enough time to enjoy
what you do like. Being negative and being picky is a waste of life
gift. Life is for you to explore, to cultivate and to enjoy. Be
realistic with mother nature; do not try to fight with nature, instead,
make peace with it, and make the best of it. You can』t say 「nuclear」
properly? That』s fine and live with that, because it』s not perfection
that counts in the end.
Positive attitude enhances your
strengths and starves your weaknesses. It supplies oxygen to your inner
fire and drives you forward in hard times; and it』s through hard times
that you build more strengths. In a difficult situation, positive
attitude protects you from overwhelming frustration and worry, and
helps you focus on creating solutions. Positive attitude can also edify
others and help achieve team success. Your smiles brighten your own
heart and mind, and also enlighten others and stimulate constructive
psychology and emotions around you.
How to live a positive life
Be
so kind that be kind to yourself. Stop defeating yourself. Have faith
because you are alive for a good reason. Never forget looking at the
bright side in life. You are well equipped and you have all it takes;
whatever it is that you choose to do. You may just need to discover
yourself.
Make good use of the power of encouragement. Praise,
recognition, and all kinds of encouragements bring much more
improvements than criticizes and punishments. Dale Carnegie and his
theory have been a great success. His secret is positive attitude in
people interactions.
Put things in action. Put your resolution
in action. Act when you decide. Of course, actions result in both
failures and successes, expected and unexpected. Do not be surprised by
surprises. Learn from surprises. Mistakes and failures lead to success,
and success avalanches more successes
Conclusion
To summarize the
talk, I shared with you reasons to be positive and suggestions on how
to live a positive life. Positive attitude is a personal choice. It is
a life strategy, a decision. Positive attitude helps yourself
and influence others to achieve more, and ultimately yields a better
world. So trust yourself and others, be positive, and act today.