“Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.”  ~ Frederick Langbridge

Good Morning!  Positive thinking does not spiral and grow as fast as negative thinking.  I believe this is because most people are trained to prepare for the worst instead of expecting the best.  Because we live like that (or live around people who do), negative thinking has the power to build quite quickly – like the first little snowball that is soon rolled into the belly of a big snowman.

We are trained like this from a young age.  “Don’t talk to strangers.”  Why?  Because something bad might happen.  We don’t view strangers as friends we have not yet met; we view them as potentially dangerous villains.  AS children, we are right to be caught caution:  If we did not have these protection mechanisms when we were young, many of us would have been endangered or hurt.  But we aren’t children now.  We don’t need the same defense mechanisms we once had.  Now we are adults – not is is up to us, every moment, to make our own choices.

Your turn: Where have protection or defense mechanisms limited your choices?  Today, make a conscious choice to put down a self-protection tool you have outgrown.

Today’s Affirmation:  I know the choices I make become my future.