‘Tis easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows along like a song; But the man worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong.
Navigation through life creates an inner turmoil that causes all of us to bolster our courage and take on whatever new chapter awaits us… good, bad or indifferent.
Smiling in the best of times is admirable, but smiling in the toughest of times can be daunting on a good day and next to impossible on the worst of days.
The art of the smile is the art of self-control. It is the ability to dig deep within and find that core strength that enables one to pull all internal resources into play for the purpose of leveraging them to confront the worst of times, assess the circumstances, and then instantaneously bring forth a positive perspective.
This is all part of manifesting the positive outcomes in life, when the negative variables appear oppressive beyond measure. The smile is one of the first steps at visualizing the desired positive outcome of what has gone astray, and working to ensure that one is attracting all of the positive energy needed to battle the variables and negotiate a path to happiness.
It all sounds so easy. But putting it into practice is a considerable feat at those lowest of low moments. When I personally hit one of those low moments, I indulge myself in a very short term pity party of a defined period of time. And when that time has expired, the pity party comes to an abrupt end, and it is full systems going forward towards the bigger goal.
Many people play their cards differently here. I am sure there are times when you have been around someone who is morose, throwing tantrums of sorts and taking out their bad mood on anyone or anything within reach. This is a very human response. I certainly have been guilty on many occasions of acting in this manner. All the way up to putting my fist through a wall when I was 21…. BUT… my experience is that this behavior accomplishes nothing, alienates those around you and does not get you one single step closer to success. In fact, in many cases it pushes the success further away.
Practicing the art of the genuine smile under adversity is a high level skill. The next time things are going astray and you feel like screaming… if you can conjure the strength to smile broadly in the face of adversity and stare that problem in the face and smile with confidence, then you are already a few steps closer to overcoming the issue and planning your next steps for progress.
Happy Tuesday!
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