Do you have bad days? Really?

Thanks to Euan having a bad day, I have found Steve Schwartz' article at Lifehacker on The Science Behind "Having a Bad Day" (and How to Solve It).

Sometimes you wake up, and within the first hour or so, you know it's going to be a bad day. It happened to me a couple days ago, and it happened to my girlfriend just this morning. So I'd like to take this opportunity to go on the record saying this entire notion of having a "bad day" is bullshit! Don't worry, this is not a rant, there's real science behind it. Let me explain.

When I was a teenager, I was grousing to a friend's mother that we were going to have a terrible weekend because we couldn't join a group of friends on a camping trip.  The mother responded with, "You are as happy as you choose to be."  And the article says essentially the same thing: "A bad day is as real as you make it."  If this is the case, the solution should be pretty obvious: If I make the bad day, then I can un-make the bad day.

When I was younger, I used to greet people with a cheery, "Good morning!" no matter the time of the day.  I think I learned that from the principal of my high school.  My intention was to get people to realize that they could start their day over, if they needed to.  And one of the things I notice over and over again: one day the little things roll off my back, another day they all pile up into a big ball of blackness on my soul.  Once again: the solution is within.

So, there is no such thing as a bad day (or any other period).  Thing happen, and how we interpret them is dependent on all sorts of factors.  If you want a "good" day, find ways to use the "bad" things for positive benefit.  Don't let all the "stuff" pile up into that ball of blackness.  Start the day over.

Good morning.

[Photo: "Good morning... morning...morning..." by JulyYu]