Don't sweat the small stuff.

That is an old phrase and even the title of a series of books. It's good advice. We waste a lot time worrying about things we can't do anything about or things that are easily fixed.

If something can be fixed by just admitting you made a mistake or an error in judgement then go ahead and say your sorry take your lumps and get it behind you.

If your worrying about something that you can't do a darn thing about then don't even dwell on it. The stock market is going silly right now, that is what it does. You haven't lost anything till you sell and if you have a 401 or IRA that you contribute to each paycheck it can actually be good for you to have the market low. Your regular contributions can buy more shares and the shares you are holding will get back to normal.

When you get ready to do your exercising, having negative thoughts can hender your workout. You will not have good energy unless you have positive thoughts. Yes negativity will drag you down. Say to yourself, "is there anything I can do about the situation that is bothering me for the next hour", if the true answer is no then put it out of your mind and get some positive thoughts going. If there is something you can do about it right now then do it and get it behind you.

Think for a moment and put a priority on the things in your life. Start with what is going right. Are you healthy, maybe carrying a little extra fluff but healthy? Do you have a job, one that allows you to eat and have a roof over your head? Do you have a support group, even if you don't use them and support them enough? Are the people who are important to you healthy? Ok these are the important things.

Now lets look at what you can't do anything about. Prices of stuff, yep, sucks but we can't do anything about it except cut back on some stuff if we need to. Buy the generics and watch for sales. How about the fact that so many people are rich and have anything they want and you have to budget just to buy shoes. Yep, sucks, but if being the rich and famous is so cool how come so many of them are in rehab or overdose on drugs.

Now lets look at what you can control, you can control your self, your thoughts and your body. You can police yourself, be your own "Mom". Think about if you were a kid, would your mom approve of what you are thinking about yourself or a situation or another person. Learn to forgive and put things behind you. Stand up for yourself when it's justified, I have told supervisors who chewed me out unfairly, "I didn't deserve that". Or, "I made a mistake but I learned from it". You will be respected for that.

The really bad things that happen are the things that slap us down when we least expect it. Those things will happen during our lives but you can deal with them when they happen. If you spend all your time worrying about getting cancer, especially while your having a cigarette, then see the paragraph above.

Tonight hug your hubby/wife and tell them how glad you are they decided to accompany you through this journey called life and mean it. Hug your children, tell them you are proud of them and mean it. Put things in perspective and I bet you will realize life is pretty good if we work on the positive and don't let the negative control your thinking.

Positive Panda