A Life Lesson from a Little Frog

I love the story about a group of frogs that were hopping along through the woods when two of them fell into a pit. The other frogs saw how deep the pit was, and they realized there was no hope. They told the two frogs in the pit that they were as good as dead.

The two frogs in the pit were positive thinkers though, so they ignored the naysayers and tried to jump out anyway. The frogs up above were sure they were right, and they keep shouting for the other two to quit jumping and accept their fate.

After a while, one of the frogs became so discouraged by all the negative talk that he finally lost hope. He quit jumping, fell down, and died.

The second frog didn’t. He kept jumping, seemingly undeterred by the waves of negativity being showered down upon him. He continued jumping with all his might. The negative crowd renewed its efforts, yelling even louder for him to stop the foolish jumping, give up, and die.

But the little guy kept at it, jumping a little higher with each attempt. Finally, he finally made it out.

When he got out, the other frogs said, “Why did you keep jumping? Couldn’t you hear us?”

It took a few moments for the successful jumper to figure out what they were saying. Then he responded, “I’m deaf. All this time, I thought you were encouraging me!”

You are going to encounter plenty of frogs in life. There will be many people who feel intimidated or even threatened by your positive character, leadership, and optimism. Misery loves company, and people who are steeped in negative thinking always want someone to join them in complaining, feeling helpless or entitled, or trudging along in a negative lifestyle that leads to misery.

Some of them may be close to you—members of your family, coworkers, or trusted friends.

Do not listen to them. Don’t for one moment believe that you cannot succeed, that you will never rise above your negative circumstances, that your life cannot change, that you are stuck with a negative outlook forever.

Here is the truth: You can change! You can become a positive person. You cannot choose what happens to you in life, but you can always choose your response to it. You can make the decision to have a positive outlook. And when you support that with positive changes to your lifestyle—your thoughts, daily habits, and relationships—you will become a positive, forward thinking, optimistic, successful person.

What about you? What’s your best tip for shutting down the negative influences in life and tuning in to the positive ones?

I’d love to hear your answer on Facebook or Twitter.

StanAToler

 

 

 

 


 

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