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yourself for something that wasn’t your fault? Was there another way you could have viewed the situation that didn’t make you the villain?
     
     
    Do you get your feelings hurt a lot? Could it be that you are personalizing some situations? How can you avoid that in the future?
     
     
    Anticipate the Best
    One of the world’s largest shoe manufacturers sent two market researchers, independent of one another, to an underdeveloped nation to find out whether or not that country was a viable market for them. The first researcher sent a telegram to the home office saying, “No market here. Nobody wears shoes.” The second researcher sent a telegram back home saying, “Unlimited potential here—nobody has any shoes!” 7
    I am sure the second researcher went on his trip expecting to send good news back to his employer—and he did. He could have perceived the fact that everyone in the nation he visited was barefooted as a challenge or an obstacle, as the other researcher did, and then his attitude would have been negative. But because he anticipated the best, he saw the situation in a positive light.
    In any situation, a habit of thinking about what can go wrong or envisioning worst-case scenarios is a bad habit that needs to be broken. Let’s say you and a friend are planning a hiking trip. Most hiking trips have their challenges, but the person who will be able to overcome the challenges is the one who expects the trip to turn out well and is determined to enjoy it. The one who thinks, Well, maybe it is a beautiful trail, but it’s full of mosquitoes and it’ll be hot and my feet will hurt after a while. And what if we get lost and can’t find our way back? is doomed to have a long, miserable day! This person has already decided not to enjoy the journey before it ever begins. Many things in life come with challenges, but most of them can be overcome with a positive outlook that expects the best.

    Think about It
    Think about a challenge you are facing right now. How can you expect the best? What are two good things that could emerge from this challenge?
     
     
    Accept a Few “Grays”
    If we want to stay positive, we have to realize that everything is not black or white. Life has some gray areas, some “in-betweens.” Everything can’t be perfect all the time and everything isn’t horrible all the time. Deciding to skip a meeting or social event simply because you are running five minutes late or have a blemish on your face, canceling an entire trip because a flight is delayed, or feeling like a terrible human being over one innocent mistake is a way of thinking known as “polarizing,” and it leads to frustration and negativity. 8 To stay upbeat about life, accept that you won’t be perfect all the time, and neither will the people or things around you.
    If we expect perfection out of life in general we usually tend to expect the same thing from people. That type of “unrealistic expectation” not only meets with a great deal of disappointment when our expectations are not met, but it also places unbearable pressure on people we care about and can eventually destroy relationships. Why not give people a break and stop demanding something from them that they have no ability to produce? The apostle James said that we all often stumble, fall, and offend in many things (see James 3:2). So if we all make mistakes often , why not realize that it is part of the human experience and relax?

    Think about It
    In what specific ways do you need to be more accepting of the “imperfect areas” in your life or in the way someone else’s imperfect areas affect you?
     
     

CHAPTER

    3

    More Power to You
    A young woman was going to meet her boyfriend’s parents for the first time. Of course, she wanted to look her best, but when she glanced at herself in the mirror, she saw that her leather pumps looked a bit dull. She grabbed a paper towel she had used to blot grease from the bacon she had for breakfast that