Hear Positive, Speak Positive: Thoughts from the Book “Don’t Die Sitting”

It was a joy to hear my 5-year old Debby read a portion of my book during our Morning Prayer time. We read page 38 of Don’t Die Sitting where we learned to Hear Positive and Speak Positive. It takes great faith to sleep in a stormy situation and you can acquire that faith by constantly reading and hearing the word of God.

During the crisis in the city of Samaria (2 Kings 6:24-33), we contrasted the attitude of the king in Samaria to that of the prophet. Both of them were in the same unfavorable situation but each reacted differently:

Troubled vs. Calm
When the city suffers an economic recession, the king was troubled, angry and could not rest while Elisha, the prophet, was calm. We encouraged Debby and Ezra, our 3-year old, to be calm as they go through their day and not allow anything or anyone to trouble their peace.

Worried vs. Composed
We all have the tendency to worry when things aren’t going expected. I was on my way to an event a few days ago when I started hearing a cranking noise from my car. I managed to pull to the side, get a tow truck, and drop the car off for service. The next morning, I went to the repair shop and they told me that the engine is dead and I’ll need a new engine which will cost some thousands of dollars.

The thought of spending unbudgeted thousands of dollars was deeply troubling to me and my countenance was down for about two days. On the third day, I got myself together, stopped worrying about it, talked with my wife on how we are going to share the other car in the meantime.

Don't allow the nega-thieves to steal your joy

You too can decide either to live each day worrying about what you cannot change or be at ease and move on with life—it takes the same energy to do either one.

Discouraged vs. Encouraged
Both ‘discourage’ and ‘encourage’ have ‘courage’ in them but both words interpret courage differently. I remember the days I was discouraged to write, dispirited when I was told my story needed more structure, depressed when I sat down to write and the flow was not just coming. But the time came when I told myself to just continue to write. After writing few paragraphs, the words, phrases, sentences, synonyms, stories, anecdotes, scriptures, and everything I needed started coming to me.

Whatever difficult situation you are going through right now, don’t let your courage be discouraged, let it be encouraged.

Negative vs. Positive
I’ve determined long time ago to always be positive and to always wear a smile. But sometimes, I meet some people, get to some place, or experience some life situations that just tilt my positive balance in the negative zone. I found myself yelling back at those who yell at me, frowning at those who are not smiling, and trying to getting even with those at odds with me. Before I drive too far in the negative direction, however, I will quickly remind myself that I am in the wrong zone and I’m allowing the nega-thieves to steal my positive attitude.

You vs. The Other You

Don’t let your courage be discouraged, let it be encouraged.

Life will always put hurdles on your way, people will always annoy you, some places will continue to be unfavorable, but you cannot control any of these situations, the only thing under your control is you attitude and your reaction. You alone can decide to be positive and remain sane when people decide to be insane.

When your day goes topsy-turvy and life is not giving you the results you intended, be determined to hear positive, think positive, look positive, be positive, stay positive and you will eventually speak positive. What you see matters, what you hear matters, and what you eat matters. Everything goes a long way to affect your mood and your emotions. So, do yourself a great favor today, be careful what you allow to get into you, and don’t allow the nega-thieves of life to steal your joy.

Saji is an Author, Speaker, and Life Coach. He is an accomplished Information and Data Management Consultant and also serves as a Youth Leader at Life Source Church in Baltimore, Maryland. His new book - Don't Die Sitting is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can download the book excerpt here.