Bright Side

There are many things in our lives that happen to us which we say we do not want. Death, breakups, lost friendships, accidents, sickness, etc. most people simply react to this with anger, sorrow, frustration, etc. The problem with this is that when you react to your situation, you only bring more of these feelings into your life. When you are sad, does giving into the sadness and throwing a fit really help your situation? No! Does it make you feel better? Not really.
I remember a while back when I became Overwhelmed and sat on my floor crying. The more I cried, the more I wanted to cry. Of course it didn't help that my daughter kept saying "Don't Cry Mommy!" with her own little eyes welling up.
When someone reacts to their surroundings they hurt themselves by perpetuating the bad emotions. You are telling your subconscious brain "This is the kind of situation that makes me feel bad." so your subconscious replies "Better keep feeling bad then!"
In other words, the more miserable you are, the more miserable you become.
You see, the human brain is made up of two parts: Your animal side (also known as your subconscious) and your human side. Your animal side is enormous. It is a database which remembers every slight detail of every experience. This is here to help you operate automatically in any normal circumstance. Your human side is what causes you to consciously consider situations and information.
The problem most reactive people run into is that they are on auto-pilot. They are animals. They only access their human side on rare occasions when their experience is something their animal side hasn't got a complete answer to.
When we experience our world, the best way to experience something new, or that we perceive as bad, is to look at the experience from our human side. This is more than just "looking at the bright side". This is making the conscious choice to continue at an emotion which is neutral, even in times when unexpected troubles come your way.
Children react to their environment like a victim. If they get in trouble for hiding in the closet with a bag full of candy, they react. Even when they did something they knew they shouldn't do, they assume the position of victim, and begin to blame their environment for their reaction. "I wouldn't have thrown a fit if my candy wasn't taken from me! It is your fault that I am upset!"
Many adults react this way as well. Take for example a young man who gets involved in an accident because he was not watching where he was going. When the officer starts writing him a ticket, he starts flying off the handle "I never even saw him! He was in a blind spot! I couldn't help but hit him!"
I know that some times I have had many "bad" things hit me all at the same time. In these situations I often get overwhelmed, and I want to just curl up in a ball and cry. Funny thing about it is the fact that giving in to these feelings does nothing for the situation. When I throw my little fits for the world to see, all that I achieve is smeared makeup and people around me saying things like "I am so sorry. I don't know what to do..."
So, what do we do? We stop. We take a step back. We disconnect and look at it from an objective point of view. We need to ask ourselves what we need out of this situation, ask God for help, tell your brain that it will be okay and let go. Don't stress. When you stress you push the remedy away by seeing only tithe problem. Give it to God and trust that it will all work out.
God will never give you more than you are prepared to handle. All the tools you need to conquer every situation you have locked away, waiting for you access.