Emotional pain has been occupying my thoughts today. Just because I try my best to be positive and always look for the good in everything, doesn’t mean I don’t still feel emotional pain. The old saying, let the past make you better, not bitter, is something I strive for. In aiming for always seeing the positive in every situation, I find that I can’t blame others or rail against fate when something happens in my life that causes me emotional pain. Instead, my pain turns into grief; grief for lost opportunities, grief for endings, grief for familiarity. Being positive means that change is a constant in my life. It is in every life, but in deciding to be positive, I deliberately chose to face change head-on and accept change as something good in my life. I’ve experienced my share of abusive situations, betrayal, and lost love. Even with a positive attitude, I still experience sadness and anger about some of these situations. For me, the key has been to figure out how I could have changed my actions to have created a different outcome. Sometimes there is nothing I could have done, things were just meant to be the way they were. Sometimes I find that if my actions or words had been different, things would have worked out in a way I would have liked better. In the end, though, I must choose to accept what happened and move forward. I want to always do this with grace and dignity. I don’t want others to feel bad about themselves because of my reactions to situations. I truly believe everything happens for a reason, so I must be willing to accept what happens and make the best of it in my life.