“Accentuate the positive.” You’ve undoubtedly heard this quote a million times before. Cliché? Maybe. Common practice? Certainly doesn’t feel like it.
I have to admit, it’s not always easy to come up with a post that effortlessly flows from your mind to the keyboard. Sometimes, you just want to share something great that inspires you, in case any of your readers haven’t heard about it yet. So that’s what I’m going to do today.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve pretty much stopped watching the news on TV. Actually, not pretty much – I have completely. I can’t handle the negativity. I keep up with things at a high level by glancing at headlines on a couple of news sites, but that’s about the extent of it. And even then, more often than not, I don’t even have any desire to click on the link to read all of the details.
I know there is good happening in the world, but it seems to never get covered. Unfortunately, I guess it’s all the negativity that gets the ratings. As of the writing of this post, below are the headlines on just one of the major Atlanta news websites:
- Nightclub co-owner killed outside of his own business
- Local kindergarten teacher arrested on drug charges
- Mother says she was dragged by school bus after dispute with driver
- Paintball fight led 15-year-old to kill toddler in Dekalb, cop says
And this is just in Atlanta, and on this particular day. We’re not even hitting on the national news outlets for their daily fill of government, politics, and scandal. I don’t know about you, but I find it all fairly depressing.
The glass is half-full, not half-empty
Anyway, some of my readers may already know about this guy but, for those of you that don’t, I want to introduce you to him so that you too can enjoy positive news when everything else seems so doom and gloom.
He goes by the name of Tank Sinatra, and his website is called Tank’s Good News. He also has pages on Instagram and Facebook. His tag line is “Good News Only.”
Below are a few of the recent stories I found through his pages that give me hope that there are some amazing people out there doing wonderful things.
- James Shaw Jr, hero in the Nashville-area Waffle House shooting, is paying for the funerals of the four victims
- Each school day, a bus driver in Utah braids the hair of a young girl who lost her mother two years ago to a rare disease
- A church in Texas paid off $10 million of medical debt for local families
- Adidas sold 1 million shoes made from ocean plastic in 2017
Often times, it’s so easy to get sucked into the vortex of negative news and information. It might even be something negative that we see or hear at work, or while we’re out running errands. So much of what’s presented to us by the media is a world away, something that we have no control over, or something that won’t impact us in any way. But that little bit of negativity can be enough to completely erase our good mood.
Let misery find other company
In cases like that, think about how you can flip the script. Can you go out of your way to make someone’s day? Maybe you need to visit Tank’s Good News for a breath of fresh air. Perhaps you can intentionally focus on those positive aspects of your day, instead of getting mired in all that hasn’t gone your way.
For every negative thing we read about, there are a handful of inspiring stories and people out there. Unfortunately, we have to go looking for them much of the time. How can you be that positive person, or positive story, for someone?
Like the word “appreciate,” “accentuate” is one that feels entirely underused. Remember the good in the world when it seems that there is no good left. Make the most of anything that comes your way. Contrary to what the media wants you to believe, the sky is not falling. And it’s because there are too many awesome people out there to let it happen.