Free The Mind Connection: How the Thoughts You Choose Affect Your Mood, Behavior, and Decisions by Joyce Meyer Page A

positive, and he has always been a good influence on me in this area. I recall initially getting irritated with him because he was always cheery and hopeful when life seemed so dark and dreary to me. Although he frustrated me at times, I desperately needed and eventually was helped by his positive attitude. The best way to get rid of darkness is to expose it to the light. Dave was a light to me in that his joy eventually made me hungry for a change in my own behavior. One of the best ways we can minister to people is to go out in the world and be a positive, joyful influence on them. If you realize you are a negative-thinking person, the best thing you can do for yourself is to avoid spending excessive time with other negative people and to spend generous amounts of time with positive, hopeful people. Don’t accept the lie that you can’t be happy because you have too many problems. If anyone can be happy, you can be happy, because God’s promises are for anyone who will believe them and receive them by faith.
    The best way to get rid of darkness is to expose it to the light.

Do You Attract People to You?
    Are you the kind of person whom others want to be friends with? Looking at it in a more personal way, are you the kind of person you would want to be friends with? If I would not even want to be friends with me, how can I expect anyone else to want to? I want to be the kind of person that people are glad to know and call their acquaintance or friend. I want people to be glad they ran into me at Starbucks and we had a few minutes to chat. WhenI am at a gathering of people, I would like to be sought out by others because they like my attitude and being with me adds to their joy.
    I am sure you feel the same way, but we must also realize that if we want to have that kind of positive effect on people, we need to be positive people. I don’t think that anyone would say they don’t want people to like them, but they must also realize that nothing good happens accidently. If we want to be well liked, we can choose to be likable. If we want friends, we can choose to be friendly! We have to be kind and do things that make people feel good about themselves when they spend time with us. I once heard that even if people don’t remember what you say to them, they do remember how you made them feel.
    My exercise coach and trainer is a very enjoyable, positive, encouraging person, and I always look forward to seeing him. His attitude makes the entire experience of working out pleasant. Even though the exercises themselves are usually difficult, he makes me feel like I am amazingly strong through his positive comments to me. He recently told me that I am functioning at about the age of a fifty-year-old woman although I am seventy. I like him a lot!
    On the other hand, I had another trainer a few years ago who wasn’t very positive or encouraging. When he would correct my form, he would do it in a rather negative, condescending way. He actually thought he was helping me, but the truth was that he was discouraging me. I may have needed the advice, but he could have given it to me in a more encouraging way and perhaps in smaller doses. Excessive correction breaks a person’s spirit and makes them weak. He was also very stingy with compliments or praise. Only occasionally did I hear the word “good” come out of his mouth, and even then he didn’t say it with much enthusiasm.It is not hard to realize why I didn’t enjoy working with him nearly as much as I do my current trainer.
    If anyone has a job dealing with the public or they have clients or customers, it is foolish to be negative and expect to do well.

Give What You Hope to Get
    Instead of being focused on me when I am with other people, I need to be focused on them. I have asked God to give me the gift of awareness. I want to train myself to truly be aware of the people around me, their needs, and how I am making them feel. I want to know what they are trying to communicate