G. on the PMA.

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about something I've been thinking about recently. The PMA. It stands for "Positive Mental Attitude". Surprisingly, the first place I saw this was in a article I was reading about the art of survival. You know, getting lost in a foggy forest or being stranded in the middle of a desert, and somehow staying alive. But no matter what I read about this, the PMA was something that seemed to be held in especially high esteem. Something worth more than knowing what plants are edible, or how to gather safe drinking water. Because without the positive outlook, all this would be for naught. And the more I ponder it, the more I think that having a PMA is universally useful, not just something for keeping sane while your trapped in a rainforest.

Why are we negative? Because its incredibly, mind bogglingly easy. And really, who doesn't like easy? Me, I love easy gosh darn it. Why didn't I do my homework? Because the prof gave too much of it, duh. Why am I always broke? Because the economy sucks... nothing to do with me gambling it away at the Horseshoe casino, oh no. Hey, don't you look at me like that. Let's just blame it on Bush; it seems like everyone loves to do that. But once we get past the wonder of the easiness, negativity brings absolutely no results. In anything. When a kid misbehaves and his mom starts yelling at him, does the kid just magically behave? No. And if he does, it's out of a fear of a punishment, nothing more. When people get mad at each other, they love to argue, but naturally no one wins until they decide to make peace and resolve their differences. So basically, negativity sucks. But we always love to do the easiest thing; negativity takes little effort. The easy button might be evil; beware. So, what do we do?

At this point, a heavenly choir starts to sing, and the letters "PMA" float down from the sky and miraculously land on a perfect lotus flower. Where negativity fails, the positive mental attitude will take you far. If you do end up in a Bear Grylls- like situation one day and just walk around saying your life sucks... well good luck with that. Having the positive mental attitude does takes a good amount of effort. Scary, I know. You'll have to develop such things as self-control, appreciation for others, and even respect. What is this madness? It's the fact that with a little effort, developing a PMA brings an actual result; you deal with life better, you deal with people better, and you have a better chance of surviving in the wild than that guy in the corner there cutting his wrists.

Being positive all the time is difficult, but the rewards are much greater than negativity, which is only enabling our laziness and inaction. So yeah, times are hard, life likes to kick us all in that place from time to time. So if you want to taste the power of the sun, drink Sunny D; I recommend it. But if you want to taste a little bit of victory, stay positive. Go run outside and start dancing like a lunatic. Take a risk. Do something you've always wanted to do. When you have the PMA, that easy button isn't needed anymore. I know this all seems obvious, but sometimes we need a reminder... and occasionally a little smack on the head, like in that V8 commerical.

Alright! Another rant in the bag. Thanks for reading.