How are you today? Happy? Content? Struggling?
It’s easy to feel worn out and discouraged these days. Life is a constant cycle of working hard, paying bills, going to meetings and activities, falling asleep, waking up, and repeating the process again and again. So you might think: where is the fun in that?
I’m here to help you see that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but you need to do some work. Just as spring, with all the beautiful flower blooms and nature coming back to life after the cold, unfriendly winter, you too, can feel alive again and bloom where you are.
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. ~ Anne Bradstreet
Spring is my favorite season. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and nature awakens. And so it’s easy to wonder if these things are happening to me, too. Do I feel a sense of renewal within myself? Or is something missing?
As I plan to add thoughts and ideas to this website to keep myself in a happy place, and also encourage you to do the same, I thought it would be appropriate to share some inspirational springtime quotes.
I hope they put a smile on your face and a spring into your step.
Inspirational Springtime Quotes
I hope these encouraging thoughts will change the winter of your soul to springtime.
The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing. ~ S. Brown
It’s spring again. I can hear the birds sing again. See the flowers start to bud. See young people fall in love. ~ Lou Rawls
Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful. ~
A little flower that blooms in May. A lovely sunset at the end of the day. Someone helping a stranger along the way. That’s heaven to me. ~ Sam Cooke
All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today. ~ Unknown
Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer. ~ Anita Krizzan
It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want to – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~ Mark Twain
Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be. ~ Unknown
You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming. ~ Pablo Neruda
Despite the forecast, live like it’s spring. ~ Lilly Pulitzer
Sunshine is the best medicine. ~ Unknown
Seasons change, and so do we. ~ NikkiChe
Tips For Staying Positive During Difficult Times
1. The upside of thinking positive
Thinking positive is easier said than done, especially these days with the economy in shambles and with everyone trying to find their rightful places in the world. However, many recent polls show that people are more optimistic than we imagined.
2. Positive attitude as a choice
Thinking positive is a choice that you make when you look at a situation. When you are faced with a glass, you can either choose to see that it is half full or half empty. Or you can choose to see both, which requires a lot of objectivity and honesty.
Optimism and thinking positively can be innate. You can naturally see that the glass is half full. However, it can also be learned. There are some simple things that you can do in order to condition your mind and body to react in positive ways (see the glass half full) whenever you are faced with a problem or just in general.
Smile
The simple act of smiling can change your perception in a few different ways. When you smile, you are sending a message to your brain that connects that action with a pleasant memory. Your brain knows that when you smile, you’re feeling good. So while it may be a fake smile in the beginning, it could just as easily turn into a sincere one soon enough.
Also, when you smile at someone, they normally smile back and that triggers a positive environment, which can add to your good vibes. When you feel good vibes, your body begins to feel better.
Be kind
Responding kindly to the situations that you are faced with is a great way to stay calm and react in a positive way.
Be flexible
Being truly flexible allows you to allow room for other scenarios. When you are completely set in your ways, you are more likely to be unhappy and think negative thoughts when things don’t go your way. As I’m sure most of you have noticed, things won’t always end up the way you expect in life.
Keep a “Happy Thoughts” Jar
Consider keeping a mason jar (or a whimsical cookie jar) in your office or bedroom. When something good happens to you, write a quick note about it and place that note in the jar. When you’re having a bad day, open it up and recollect the times when you were positive.
3. Look at the negativity in your life
An important part of growing up is learning how to effectively deal with pain. Pain and all the unpleasantness that comes with it will help you learn how to be stronger. They may leave emotional (and sometimes physical) scars but those scars are the symbols of your strength and courage. These are the things that you have to remember when you doubt yourself and when you think that the situation is hopeless.
You must also look at the people in your life who like to spread negativity. At first, you may make excuses for these people but if you look within yourself, you know exactly who these people are. They may be family. They may be friends. They may even be people that you look up to. Unfortunately, these people are the type of people that you may need to avoid.
You can smile when they try to bring you down. You can combat their negative thoughts with positive ones. However, there may be a time when you won’t be able to take it anymore. In those cases, you may either snap or you may break down. Don’t let that happen.
Confront them first. Tell these people that you are trying to turn your life around and you’re trying to be a more positive person. Those thoughts that they like to put in your head are not helpful and may even be hurting you.
Distance yourself, if confronting them doesn’t work. This may be difficult emotionally and/or physically. Perhaps you have to work beside this person and your boss won’t let you move or transfer. In these situations, you’re going to have to remember these things:
You don’t have to talk to them, but you don’t have to be rude either. Just because you’re not going to engage this person in conversation, doesn’t mean you can’t be pleasant toward him or her.
Don’t let their negativity turn you into someone that you’re not. Keep being yourself and keep telling yourself to maintain your focus and enthusiasm for life.
Don’t take things too personally. People’s actions are a reflection of their personalities. What they do isn’t because of you; it is because of them and who they are.
Smile and nod, then go to your happy place. Focus on work and on the positive things that are getting you through your work day.
4. Sharing your positivity
Another way to stay positive is to share your optimism with other people. You can’t make people see things the way that you do but you can do some of these things in order to shed some light on some negative thoughts that other people may have. And remember, when you do nice things for other people, they want to do nice things for you too.
Show your gratitude. Showing your gratitude has been a proven way to make yourself feel happier. When we say “thank you” and when we show our appreciation, we are internally rewarded which aids in the rising of our happiness meter.
Paying it forward is the best part of being positive. You get to do something nice for someone (you may even make her day) and you get to do something that makes you feel good about yourself. It’s really a win-win.
5. Calculating happiness
So how do you know if you’re truly happy? Happiness is an abstract noun which means that it can be hard to pinpoint and calculate. You may be happy and I may be happy but we won’t be at the same level of happiness.
Apparently, it can be easier to calculate than we think, or at least Columbia University’s Earth Institute thought so when it released the U.N.-sponsored “World Happiness Report”. This report (which states that the US is the world’s 17th most happy country), used three measures of happiness to rank each country: “life satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10, positive emotional state the prior day, and negative emotional state the prior day.”
So on a scale from Denmark (one of the world’s happiest countries) to Syria (which was in the bottom ten), how happy and optimistic are you?