Looking Up

I’m reminded of a Peanuts carton I used to have hanging on my wall. Charlie Brown was walking around, looking at the ground, obviously dejected. He then proceeds to mention that he has to look at the ground, because when he starts to look up around him, he feels better. It’s important to act correctly to remain dejected, he says.

I’m sure I’m remembering the cartoon incorrectly – it might have been Linus, or Lucy, or Pigpen – I’m sure it wasn’t Snoopy. But the theme plays true – as human beings, we have an inherent desire to make life better – to make life positive.

We are drawn to the rising sun; we are moved by music and laughter; we love to love others; we love to be loved.

In other words, being depressed is somewhat of a learned behavior. Although there are physical reasons why depression and negative thoughts might afflict certain people, there are also plenty of reasons why we are born to be positive.

The other day I heard someone ridiculing maintaining a positive attitude. To this person, the world is going to hell in a hand basket – and there’s no chance to change.

Sometimes, it seems like society here in the United States, where we’re based, has moved that way – between expensive oil and global warming, it’s easy to look the negative way. Throw in a nasty presidential campaign that’s covered gavel to gavel on 24-hour news stations – well, you get my drift.

But even with all the negative stuff wandering around in the world, as human beings, we want to look at life in a positive way. We inherently want to follow the Peanuts’ character’s lead, and look up – and stop being depressed.

Sure, once you’ve drifted into the negative thought territory, it’s easy to get roped into it. It’s easy to surround yourself with darkness, thinking that the sun will never shine again, and we’re all going to die on a dark little iceball of a planet, and be condemned to eat nothing but shredded wheat for the remainder of our days. Oh excuse me….you see how easy it is?

But this is the key – we’ve got to look up, change our viewpoint, change ourselves, make a positive move, and put all the naysayers behind us. Ignore the naysayers – keep a positive tone to your life.

Follow the people who speak positively – keep your sights set on your goals.

Tonight, I was watching Larry King on CNN as I rode a stationary bicycle, and he was interviewing various money experts about the rising gas prices and the falling stock market. Without an exception these money experts said the same thing – they each said this is a time where people should be investing – real estate, stock market, what have you – not pulling back. Sure, there’s a potential downside – but the upside is more likely in the long term.

They looked up – and saw the possibilities ahead of them.

When you are looking for opportunity, you’re really more likely to see it if you look up, rather than just concentrating on your shoes – but altogether too many of us force ourselves to look down all of the time – rather than finding the opportunities that greet us and await us.