by Dan Williams

Created on: January 09, 2010   Last Updated: January 10, 2010

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of  all?" As the queen looked in the mirror, the mirror's truth could not be withheld. Snow White of course. Our ugliness and perceptions of how we look at the world do emphatically become played out in life. It may not occur in the short term, however this is played out in our personal happiness and in relationships. One cannot expect happiness and good fortune if there is a constant negative outlook. As humans we must look inside ourselves at the dark side, the Darth Vader in all of us. By doing this introspection we slowly understand what keeps us stagnate, what keeps us from moving on a path of happiness.

Some look for God, others self help groups, self help books inundated our book stores as media traps for the poor self esteem in all of us. Look at the success of, "The Secret." This is just one example of how we desperately are looking for how to perceive the world as well as ourself in a more positive light. As humans we are constantly talking about stress, filling our appointment books with more and more errands, and juggling the induced fear by our government and institutions. It is rather simple, yet to implement the concept is so difficult. We need to re-frame our attitude on how we see ourselves, the world and how we relate to that paradigm.

Before we begin, an individual must reflect on their past and how they got to be in such a negative frame of mind. Individuals that feel they are so worse off than others, and see the world around them as a constant competition will never find happiness on a consistent basis. We reflect outward to individuals, the workplace, our loved ones, our attitude, our perceptions and our beliefs. That reflection gets mirrored back to us with direct feedback. This feedback could be a smile, a laugh, or a handshake. One can at least make every interaction a pleasant one. The response may not be what we are looking for, however you will be surprised how an interaction with a waitress, the checkout lady at WalMart or the gas station attendant can lead to a wonderful positive interchange.

No, life is not always a bowel of cherries, and this is not about touting a hyper manic state of happiness. The reality is, this is about truth. Truth of positive interactions lead to more positive interactions. There will be times when you will not make the difference, however you tried,

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