This post is a part of the With Love series.

It is inevitable that some days of our lives will be sad and miserable. But how this affects us depends on how we react to it. Most people easily give in and let circumstances overpower them. But once you start to take your emotions into your own hands, you soon realize that you can feel good about yourself even when bad things happen.

When I feel sad, angry or frustrated, I look into the mirror and say, “I love myself. All is well and everything is going to turn out perfectly fine!” In this way, I can always change my thoughts! And whenever I do, I realize that every bad day can turn into a valuable lesson, teaching me how to make the most of every day.

• I know how it feels to change my thoughts
• I know how to change my thoughts
• I know it is possible for me to change my thoughts

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

– Mary Engelbreit

Develop Your Mental Candy

Whenever you feel overwhelmed by a sad day, think about a wonderful situation in the past, a pet, or a loving person. Take that same feeling you had at that moment, or the feeling which that person or pet provided you with, and let it fill your whole body. Use it as an anecdote against the sad times.

Then, try to think and figure out why you are feeling sad, and then learn from it. Devise a way for yourself to avoid that situation in future, or to conquer it when it does arise. The best use of hard times, is to learn from them.

Learn to dance in the rain!

Illustration: A rainy day, a woman is walking in the park getting wet, she imagines how she loved the rain when she was younger, and then she starts dancing in the rain.

Checklist for today

• Think of something that bothered you yesterday or someday during this week.
• Try to look at that situation in a more positive light. Find the single good thing that came from it, and reprogram your mind to view the situation in that new, positive light.
• Next, recall a favorite memory of yours (a happy event, a cheerful person, or a loving pet)
• Imagine how that event/person/pet made you feel, and save it in your mind
• Whenever you feel like situations are getting you down throughout the day, think about your favorite memory, and allow it to fill your whole body.