The Umbrella Mentality popped into my head this morning at 5.45am this morning.    It's when you take everything in your life and you group it together under your unhappy umbrella. So when one thing is crappy you tint your whole life and all segments of your life the same.

When we've had a rubbish day at work or our personal relationship isn't going well, then many times we take that negative energy and attitude and we spread that all around us.  We spread it at home, we spread it with our friends; we take a big paint brush and we say, if I'm not happy in this part of my life then I'm going to paint everything else and everyone else with my “everything is crap” paint brush too.

When you are feeling like this, then it's time to do two key things:

1)  Segment your life

Yep just like an orange.

Realise that your life has many facets and elements.  Different people have different segments, but it may look something like – Family/Home Life, Work, Love, Health & wellness, Friends.  You may have something different.

When things at work aren't going well then think about how you can take the positive energy from your other segments and enjoy those when you're out of work.  If your love life isn't going well then focus your energy on work and health.

What you focus on expands, so if you're focusing on the negative then that will engulf your life.  If you focus on how awesome your family is, the laughs you have with your friends and the fact at you are healthy, fit, able and probably have a pretty good life in general, then they are the things that will resonate in your life.

No one's life is ever perfect, so don't look around and think everyone has it better than you, just focus on the great things you do have.

2)  Focus on others

I can't remember what I was watching the other day, but there is a story that say Oprah used to have a sign on her door that said

“You are responsible for the Energy you Bring into this room”

 

So when you walk in the door at home or you're going to meet friends for dinner, are you going to bring your umbrella mentality with you and all that negativity you're carrying into the room, dinner and conversation?

If you're not feeling great about what's happening in one element of your life then focus on the other elements or even better focus on other people.

Ask them what's great with them.  Lift the people around you up, instead of bringing them down.   This does require some selflessness.   It's about focusing on the good in your environment and understanding that 1) it's not all about you and 2) you can choose what you focus on.

This isn't to say you can't talk to your friends and family about the things are aren't going well but think about how much time you are spending in negative mode.   Balance it out with making an effort to focus on the positive as well.

I can guarantee that people around you will appreciate the effort that you're making.

How do you deal with things when they go wrong?  If you have any helpful tips for positive living I'd love to hear about them in comments below.

Have a great day[.$?*|{}() 0=”%91″ _i=”1″ _address=”1″ /][^; _i=”2″ _address=”2″ /][1 _i=”3″ _address=”3″ /]