You choose your mood

Occassionally I teach a class at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.  The class I teach is Public Safety Telecommunicator I.  It's, for lack of a better term, a "Dispatching 101" course.  I teach some of the basics of dispatching, call taking and the technology used in the profession.  But the day I like best in the class is when we talk about the stress involved in the profession and discuss some techniques for dealing with stress.  One of the things we talk about is "choosing your mood".  I am a firm believer that, most of the time, you choose your mood.  You can choose to be in a good mood, you choose to be in a bad mood.  You choose to focus on the negative.  You choose to focus on the positive.  The biggest examples I can give in my own life on the Cincinnati Bengals and the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The Bengals haven't had a decent team in years, which makes it difficult to be a Bengals.  And the Buckeyes...well, if you watch the news around Columbus at all then you know the deal there.  I could focus on the negative, I could whine and complain about everything that's going on.  But what difference does a winning season in Cincinnati make in my life?  Not a bit.  What difference does it really make in my life if Ohio State has a losing season this year?  Not a bit.  Yeah, it makes it a little less fun to watch the games on Saturdays and Sundays, but it's not going to change who I am, or I have around me.  Who I associate with.  How I spend my free time.  As a matter of fact, it really gives me more free time. 
You choose your mood.  So next time you're focusing on the bad day you're having at work...remember this...you have a job...nowadays that's a fortunate thing.  Next time you feel yourself focusing on the negative choose to look at the positive.  Next time someone starts to tell you about the nasty things someone said about you behind your back...tell them to stop telling you.  If knowing negative things people are saying about you behind your back accomplishes nothing more than to put you in a bad mood, then why listen to it?  Being in a bad mood only accomplishes one thing...it puts you in a bad mood.  Choose to be happy.  Choose to focus on the blessings in your life and discard those things in your life that serve no purpose other than to frustrate you and put you in a bad mood.