Accentuate the positive for your health

When I planned to spend last weekend out of town, I had visions of carefree walks on the beach, cocktails at interesting coastal cafes and hours wiling away walking my pups against the serene backdrop of nature.

Anyone who’s ever traveled across state lines with multiple dogs on short notice knows I needed a reality check. And I got one, in a big way.

The day before we were set to head home, a check engine light went on in the car. Innocuous enough. No problem, I thought, we’ll swing by an auto parts store, borrow a code reader and be prepared to handle it when we get home.

Not so.

Instead, our car broke down and died in the middle of the street, hundreds of miles from home in a small town on a Sunday, which meant there were no open repair shops in a 50-mile radius. About that time is when our dog decided to be spectacularly sick all over the back seat, requiring the phoning of several nearby businesses inquiring about the existence of an outdoor spigot and the possibility of using it, leading to the most ick-inducing walk of shame of my life.

I think everyone has experienced a “vacation” or two like that in their lifetime – the one in which everything that could go wrong, did.

It’s difficult to find a silver lining when you’re focused on corralling an animal covered in questionable bodily fluids while your spouse fumbles under the hood of the car and swears. But I think it’s absolutely necessary to try.

John Hopkins University scientists discovered that people with a family history of heart disease who also had a positive outlook were one-third less likely to have a heart attack or other cardiovascular event than those with a more negative outlook, and positive people from the general population were 13 percent less likely than their negative counterparts to have a heart attack or other coronary event.

Mayo Clinic studies indicate that positive thinking is key in stress management and overall health, writing that “positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way.”

To my mind, consciously choosing happiness – okay, if not happiness, at least amusement – is the only way to cope with the nonsense life can throw at us.

Interspersed between the more challenging parts of the weekend were beautiful moments – time by the campfire with my husband, hours spent drinking in the view from ocean bluffs and cheerful conversations with strangers at a newly-discovered park.

I think the key to gratitude isn’t feeling it when life is easy, but remembering to feel it when it’s not. Not only might it help you live longer, but it will keep you from spiraling into a dark mood while in the midst of your own “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” saga.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].