My Two Jars

I have two jars, the good jar and the bad jar.

Whenever someone I know met their goal and I felt happy for them or if something positive came out of a really dire situation I would take a pebble and drop it into the good jar. When little things make me happy or I feel positive vibes from people around me... another pebble goes into the good jar. The size of the pebble depends on how good the situation made me feel.

The bad jar. The bad jar gets a pebble when I let someone get under my skin... or I have ill feelings for someone who has done me wrong. If I am unable to ignore a person who is deliberately irritating the hell out of me or if a false friend shows her true colors and I got really upset, the bad jar gets another pebble.

Why do I have two jars? Because its easy for us to overlook that despite our goal to do good and be positive we sometimes let other people drag us down with their negative outlook. Letting someone else influence you beyond your good sense is wrong,  it not only affects you but it also affects the people around you. It's wrong,  big or small, wrong is wrong. I wanted to make sure I am a spreading positive vibes around me. I want people to smile more and feel better whenever I am around simply because my positive energy will lift them up. Why? because I expect the same from everyone.  When life throws me lemons I want to be sure there is someone out there who will help me make some lemonade. Makes sense?

At first I noticed that both jars were filling up at about the same rate and I was not happy. I paid attention to how my day normally runs. I see that the bad things people around me were doing was making me irritable and ruining my day. I was letting too many people get the best of me. People who have nothing good to say about other people....they were driving me crazy, dragging me down with negativity. People who have nothing better to do than to pick out the bad things about everyone instead of trying to look for the good in them. My mom always told me the secret to having a good day is to find the good side of everyone you meet, she assured me that everyone has a good side.

This has got to change. I decided to focus on being positive. To always try to see the good in everything, to always find the best in everyone. I even got me a shirt that says " Always Look for the Best in Everyone". Whenever I see people who seem to have made a habit of finding negative things about other people  I greet them with a smile and say something nice, I am hoping the positive outlook will rub off on them. However, some people make it impossible for you to see anything good and no matter how hard you try to influence them to be positive they seem to enjoy being under a dark gray cloud. For these people.... I just turn my back and do my best to ignore all their negative energy.

After sometime I noticed I need another jar for "good" while "bad is gathering cobwebs... How's yours?