“Aw, what’s up with the weather today? My plans for the day are ruined! Damn it.”

Or:

“It’s raining today. Well, I couldn’t go BBQing but wait – now I have a perfect opportunity to finish that book/enjoy time with family and friends inside/*insert anything you want*!”

Another one:

“My painting tablet won’t work anymore, I can’t do any work today. Crap!”

Versus…

“My painting tablet quit on me. But I have paper and pen – that should work fine! And it gives me a good opportunity to practice some traditional drawing – let’s try to finish the client’s logo designs with some good old paper, graphite and ink.”

What I’m getting at here is – you guessed it – always accentuate the positive. See the opportunity that presents itself from the hindrance to your action. It is in your power to choose whether a thing is good or bad (because everything just is). There are very few events in life that can’t be looked upon with a positive and opportunistic viewpoint. I would actually argue that there is nothing that can’t be looked upon positively in some way.

Your car broke down? Well, time to bring out the bicycle and get some exercise – your body and mind will love it! Train is delayed 40 minutes? Awesome. Now you can squeeze in a quick meditation session and practice some patience, or whatever you wish.

It was the roman emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius (and many other great people of history and the present) who said that there is nothing that can happen to us that is either good or bad, it is what we think of it that makes it so. It is all about how we view it, and that with every hardship or obstacle that shows itself to us there will also come with it an opportunity. Also with the obstacles comes the opportunity to practice virtues such as patience, gratefulness, kindness, humility and so on.