There’s a secret out there that really isn’t a secret as much as something that is just overlooked:  and that is, we are in control of how we respond to everything that happens to us and everything around us.

You hit every red light on the way to work. You could be angry at life that you are late for work, angry at that person in front of you that was going under the speed limit, angry at your husband for shutting off the alarm and causing you to be late in the first place.

Or you could just not be angry and negative.

You burn dinner and you get annoyed at your family for bothering you while you were trying to cook. Because of their constant pestering, you took your eye off the meal just a few minutes too long causing the whole thing to be ruined which causes you to be frustrated and upset.

Or you could just not be frustrated and upset.

Life is all about choices. Either way you look at it, you are late for work and your dinner is burned. That isn’t going to change. But how you react to those situations can drastically change how you feel, the course of the rest of your day, and how others feel around you.

As found in the Character Core Magazine, the 4 Characteristics that Positive People generally exhibit are that:

1. They create and notice opportunities
2. They listen to their intuition when making decisions
3. They create positive self-fulfilling prophecies
4. They are resilient

All that comes down to is that they are aware of the world around them and welcome new challenges and then take advantage of those opportunities when they come. They deal themselves a lot of positive self-talk and they make a conscious decision to be positive and come back after failures or disappointments.

Once you have this skillset down, and it is a skillset to retrain our minds from the more natural course of action and feelings, you can encourage and inspire others to do the same. As cheesy as it sounds: be the light for others! Be the one they call to for emotional support and a hand up. Don’t be the one they call to complain about the problems that are in their lives and how it’s everyone else’s fault.

Imagine how you can be a better spouse, parent, coworker, leader, community member if you chose to focus on how you react throughout your day.

So my challenge to you for the rest of this week is to choose positivity and watch how that changes how you feel and how others around you feel.