by Billy Sunshine

Created on: February 17, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

There's certainly much more to life than death and taxes, although most people do have these two things in common. How can people keep their chins up when life keeps dragging them down?

First off, statistically speaking the worse something gets, the less likely it is to get even worse. Unless, of course you're talking about running your engine without oil or something. The point is, there is nothing lower than the bottom, so when you're on the bottom there's nowhere to look but up, dig? (That's a little humor, to lighten the mood, you know?)

Do something fun once in a while; Take your mind off of whatever mindless drudgery or irritating interactions are bringing you down. Hang out with friends or go to a movie or something.

As far as your attitude goes, I think it's a bad idea to be so relentlessly optimistic that one can't or won't see anything as needing improvement, or conversely, to be so hopelessly pessimistic that one can't ever see the good in anything.

The best thing is to realistically look at situations and use observations of what is wrong as a catalyst for change, instead of feeling powerless and frustrated.

I see myself more as a realist than as an optimist or a pessimist, but I like to optimistically and constructively look at negative situations when they inevitably occur. It's called looking on the bright side. Here's a few examples:

Literally speaking, death is a normal fact(or the result) of life; Perception and circumstances make all the difference in whether death is seen as a horrible tragedy or a relief from suffering. Taxes could be seen as an unwanted government intrusion, or as the means to great works by the collective society.

A fatal car crash might remind others to wear a seat belt or not to drink and drive.

Sorry, maybe that's a little bit too graphic and morbid.

A skinny model's hospitalization might express the dangers of eating disorders.

It would be much better to have an engine or tire failure at low speed and right down the street from your house than to have the same thing happen at 70 miles an hour on the highway in the middle of nowhere.

School shootings, while horrible and tragic, have forced school administrators across the country to reconsider the security of their schools, and also to pay closer attention the interactions between their students.

(Sorry, maybe that's a little bit too graphic and morbid, but I was making a point.)

Additionally, to avoid pessimistic thoughts, you might want to avoid major news outlets which seem to profit greatly from constantly predicting the planet's imminent doom.

An alternative suggestion is to google, er... I mean, look up "good news", or "positive news" on the web, and you can find multiple sites that share examples of people being good to each other instead of being evil. You could also just pay more attention to the nice things in the world that often get taken for granted.

By using optimistic thinking, people can find a little grain of goodness in even the most tragic situations, and maybe even use that to make the world a better place.

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