When Thinking About the Worst Thing Can be a Good Thing

Photo from m5x.eu

We commonly hear that we should never dwell on the negative...whether it be a bad thing that happened to you or a bad thing you did.  Instead, only focus on the positive.  But sometimes taking a moment each day to focus on the bad can actually put your life in perspective.
Motivational author and speaker Anthony Robbins refers to the 10-10-80 spectrum of life.  10% of your life can be categorized as pure ecstasy, 10% of your life as tumultuous, and 80% of your life as neither a pinnacle nor down in the gallows--it's what you make of it.
At the end of each day, I make it a point to write down the best thing and the worst thing that happened that day.  Even though the worst thing didn't feel good when it occurred, even though it may have remained as a gloomy cloud over my head throughout the day, as I reflect that evening, I find myself coming to the conclusion, "if that's the worst thing that happened to me today, then it was a pretty good day."
I once had a friend named Ed who was always upbeat.  I asked him his secret.  He said, "Everything is relative.   People are starving in Africa.  Relative to that, my life is great."
This past Sunday afternoon, as I read my friends' posts on FaceBook, a friend who is dying of a brain tumor posted, "my two priorities today are #1 Being able to Breathe, and #2 Being able to swallow. "  
Suddenly, I realized my day had been pretty spectacular.