Hardships and trials in life can drag us down. How can we lift our spirits and find access to the golden ticket of life?
A year ago I attended Sister Wendy W. Reese’s address “The Power of Positivity” at Brigham Young University where she spoke about the strength that can be found by thinking positively. She shared multiple personal stories about her mother, who remained positive through brain aneurysms and emergency surgeries. Her mother’s positivity provided strength through her recovery and gave their family hope.
After learning about Sister Reese’s mother, I began thinking about how positivity brings light into my life, revealing the good I never noticed. In a sense, positivity is like a golden ticket to a better life; it promises more opportunities for joy and growth. However, unlike some other golden tickets, this golden ticket is not a rare one. Positivity is available to anyone who chooses to use it. We are the ones who create these tickets, and they do not have to be scarce. We can all cultivate a positive mindset that can lead us to a better life.
Photo by Yamu_Jay
Occasionally, there are dark moments when there seems to be no hope or positivity for us to take hold of. During these times, it is okay to take a moment to acknowledge those emotions and truly understand their depth. However, we should not stay in that darkness. Positivity does not mean ignoring the bad things in our lives; it means choosing to look for possibilities and light, even when life feels heavy. We can still find positivity in these dark moments, just like Sister Reese’s mother did. We can still take a step forward by finding at least one small thing that brings a ray of positivity into our lives.
While it may seem too good to be true, positivity works. Choosing to see light in darkness isn’t always easy, but it is worth it. To strengthen our own positive mindset, we can practice daily gratitude or take time at the end of the week to consider what went well that week. As Sister Reese said, “When we actively seek for things that are good, we will find more good things!” By actively making sometimes small but significant choices, we enable ourselves to make positivity our own golden ticket to a more meaningful and joyful life.
Discover more about positivity through Sister Wendy W. Reese’s eyes by listening to her BYU address “The Power of Positivity.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Amelia Anderson, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY IGOR OVSYANNYKOV
Find more insights
Read Emma Snow’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Finding Joy Now” to learn how to incorporate joy into everyday life.
Take a look at Elizabeth Reynolds’ Editing Research article “The Language of a Long Life: Why Positivity in Writing Matters” to see the benefit of writing with a positive spin.