I don’t know if you know this about me but I’m a pretty positive, optimistic person. (I know, I know, you’re shocked aren’t you?)

Ever since I can remember I have looked on the sunny side of things, I can’t help it, I blame my Dad. he was the most optimistic, ‘Shoot for the sky’ kinda fella and I drank it all in.  As a small child he would sit me on his knee and tell me the world was mine to conquer and anything I wanted to do was possible. He wasn’t a perfect person by any means but he tried and tried and never gave up. He was up early in the morning and stayed up to the early hours working for his dreams. And, guess what? They came true!

Sadly his dream crashed but through his determination it came true again. This taught me a great lesson as a child. Things will come and go and come again and maybe go again. But it was his attitude that made the biggest impression on little young me.

My Dad had the philosophy that things would work out if you kept positive. ‘Sometimes, a smile is all you’ve got’ he would say. He was an early practicer in The Secret before I’d even heard of it and loved it in later life.

Growing up I made similar thinking friends, and as well as being the kids from Fame and terrorising London with our monologuing and singing, we discovered the The Celestine Prophecy, it rang true in parts and I still maintain that surrounding yourself with positive people counts for a lot. Mix it up with The Secret’s philosophy that your thoughts become feelings, you find that you have to watch who you listen to and be careful who you surround yourself with. Without getting too deep and heavy and sounding like a weirdo, (ok, ok, watch it, sounding MORE of a weirdo than I usually do), it is good to regulate your emotions and keep positive. Some days, a smile is all you will have.

A few weeks ago I had a day that really tested my positivity, to the absolute core.  It was a tough one. A real test. But by keeping my smile, and being positive, I came through it, with the lessons I learnt as a child instilled in me, I passed the test.  We all have days like that, days that really test our strengths emotionally and physically. It’s how much resistance we have to diving into the pool of negativity that determines how we deal with it. Do we sink or do we swim? If just like my Dad, you at least have a smile and can find it at that moment, you’re already winning.

I’m definitely a swimmer, sometimes even a ‘ laying casually on a lilo with my hand trailing in the water’ kind of person, what kind are you?

If you are interested, this is a song I like, so listen if you want, it’s a happy little tune and has nothing to do with this blog post really, but that’s just how I roll haha 🙂