I will walk around, look at everything, see everything, observe it all. I notice the tiniest of details: the curve of hands, the folds in skirts, the haphazardly growing grass, the wrinkles in the sky, the sunlight playing with people’s hair, reflecting in their eyes and glowing there like miniature solar systems, the rough salt and pepper look of my driveway. I see so much beauty.

And, in my head, I write. When I see something that makes me stop and wonder at it, I try and describe it. I write and write in my head and lose it all to the cracks in my memory, where little thoughts and moments slip into the abyss of forgetting. I’ve come to the conclusion I need to start carrying my composition notebook everywhere, lest I lose even more; soon my writing arsenal will be overflowing with ideas and small observations. 

I write this for a reason, as always. I seldom write without purpose, which is why the flow of my blog is much slower than some of the others I interact with: I want to challenge you to counteract EVERY negative thought you have, about anything or anyone, with two positive thoughts. I don’t care what the situation is, if you think anything that is negative, you must think up two positive thoughts about that same situation, person, or item. 

Example: God, it’s so freakin’ cold outside, I hate it. But, I have jackets to keep me warm and cozy even in this merciless wind, and a house to live in to protect me from winter’s grasp.

Okay, you don’t have to be that eloquent. That’s simply what my mind sounds like. But see? You see how, even with the simplest of negative thoughts, I thought of two postive and suddenly I am grateful, I am not upset or disgruntled even in the slightest. If anything, I felt happier after I did that. Happy that it was cold, happy that I had a place to go to, a way to stay warm.

Find beauty in the strangest places. Find optimism in the most hopeless of moments. Write them down if that helps you soldify your feelings. 

And you know, the original challenge was to think of five positive for every negative. So if two ever becomes easy and not hard enough, try five. And I shall not be a hypocrite here; I have been attempting this for several days. I find it magical, and therefore I had to share it in this world of needing more. 

Something to remember: Our society is built upon being unhappy with what you have. We are bombarded with advertising literally designed to make us look at ourselves and want more, need more, need whatever it is they want to sell us. We hear it on the radio, see it on billboards, TV’s, computers, buildings and bus stops. What you have is not enough, who you are is not good enough, what you look like is not beautiful enough. Realize it, remember it, and retaliate. I personally allow myself to feel angry at them, as if to say, “Who are you to tell me how to feel? Some board of people greedily deciding the best way to destroy my self-esteem cannot control me. I won’t allow it. I know who I am, and who I am does not need a new cellphone/Chanel perfume/low-fat yogurt instead of a coffee.” 

Just food for thought. Now give the two-to-one a go.