What sets a positive thinker -- an optimist -- apart from regular people is that he or she sees an opportunity in every difficult situation . For instances, a person who has just lost his job may try to capitalize on the downtime by boning up on his computer skills or trying to get his own business off the ground. A student who's just failed an exam may sign up for after-school tutoring, forging strong relationships with her teacher and fellow peers that may last beyond grade school. A troublesome car that's always breaking down may prompt someone to finally start saving up for a newer, more reliable vehicle. A person who's afraid of flying is tasked with meeting with the vice president in another country. While terrifying, it affords him the opportunity to finally conquer his fear, making future flights a lot easier to swallow. What's the common thread across all these examples? That a good situation can come out of a bad one so long as a person doesn't...

I've had a few of my readers tell me that they've hit a rough patch of late, so I thought it apropos to write an uplifting post this morning to get everyone's weekend off to a magnificent start. There's no question that life is hard and often unfair. Bad things happen to good people all the time. We're confronted with tough situations we never saw coming, and sometimes such challenges seem insurmountable. But I'm here to tell you that every storm passes. As long as you stay strong and keep hope alive, you will get through it. The only thing in life that has no remedy is death. If the problems you're facing are not life-and-death, you can -- you will -- overcome them. Whether you recently got out of a bad relationship, unexpectedly lost your job, or are not on speaking terms with a longtime friend, one day you'll look back on it all and say, "I didn't see it back then, but things really did turn out for the best." Human beings have...

The things we value most are those we have to work hard to obtain or achieve. If someone were to hand you a trophy with your name and "world's best swimmer" engraved on it when you couldn't swim to save your life, would it mean anything to you? Of course not. You didn't earn it, so it holds no value. If losing weight were as easy as waving a magic wand, do you think one would still feel the same sense of accomplishment as they would upon completing an intense weight-loss program? Not at all. It's one thing to get something done -- it's another to overcome an arduous challenge that tests our patience and mettle. There's a reason most people blow their diets and New Year's resolutions and fail to get through law school and Ph.D. programs. When the going gets tough, many people buckle under the pressure and give up. That's precisely why reaching the finish line can be so gratifying. If something comes too easy, though, we tend not to a...