Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. 

Charles R. Swindoll

How do we learn to filter out the bad?

For a majority of the time, we can’t help but react to bad news from around the world. Shootings, bombings and the like: it’s bad for the soul. I don’t like it, and I don’t think you do too. But how should we react?

We can spend time letting it overwhelm us: Spend the rest of the day thinking about it, how it could have been avoided, who to blame, and other things.

We can spend the whole day thinking of what-ifs, but not the what-nows: What things are happening around us now, things within our reach. That you’re still breathing, and that your friends and family are doing just fine, and that you can still make memories with them. We have to learn how to be grateful for the things around us even if all the bad shit is happening around the world.

So, the bad news that comes to us should only serve as a reminder for gratitude and nothing more. It’s bad for the soul if it floods us with negativity.

Some people find ways to cope through alternative means:

What is good to you?

Love is the water of life. 

Rumi

What is considered good to me can be bad to you.

We will always try and find appreciation for love, goodwill, and appreciation from all sorts of endeavours. It could be the art that you create to express yourself, the opinions you form that are accepted by the community, or the words that you pen down.

All of these can be sources of goodwill and love, and all you need to do is believe in them.

For some, that can be God. For others, it could be their friends, family, loved ones and pets. For artists, it could be their creations. For builders, it could be what they made.

Who is good to you?

Think of a few key people in your life that immediately comes to mind when you say ‘good’ or ‘kind’.

Why are they kind? Is it because of their upbringing? Is it because they take the time to use the right words, to feel empathetic for those around them, etc.?

We know that these people are good. The observation itself reflects our defined perspective of good: we have set standards or discovered examples of goodwill in our lives, and that is reflective of our character.

So, are we truly good? Why, or why not?

What stops us from achieving goodwill, to create an impression of ourselves similar to those who are kind and impart that on our fellow friends and family?

When we compare these various attributes, we start to discover who we really are. There are times where we can do good yet we don’t. There are justified decisions that we have to make, yet we do not pull through.

We admire those we’ve done so much and have sacrificed so much because it is a comparative observation. Compared to what we’ve done, they are so great.

What we choose to see

Yet, how we observe the good around us especially in people is a key fundamental aspect of how we see ourselves.

Choose Love, Love! Without the sweet life of Love, living is a burden – as you have seen.

Rumi

It may seem obvious but it’s a start if you want to improve yourself as a person. By shifting your perspective on observed good and trying to emulate that through your own actions, slowly but surely you can have more good in your life. Think of it as reciprocating all the good things.

On the other hand, a constant negative mindset will block you from improving yourself. This is the time for self-introspection, that if you’re willing to push through and become a better person, you must challenge the way that you view things. One of those things is good.

So keep this in mind: if you make the effort to discover all the good that is in this world comma I’m sure that you can learn from it and become an even greater person than who you are right now. It’s empowering.

Stick to the good, be real, and be aware of your actions. More and more people will notice you and respect you that way.