When you expect bad things to happen, they usually do.

Not because the universe is against you, but because the mind has a way of lining things up based on past experiences. Something small happens. Your brain fills in the gaps because it craves an ending. This leads to that, which leads to something worse, which leads to the conclusion you were afraid of in the first place. Before long, you’ve spiraled to a terrible outcome that hasn’t even happened.

We’ve all done it.

Maybe that lens comes from how you were raised. Maybe it’s wired into you. Maybe it’s shaped by your current environment. However it got there, it’s the lens you’re looking through right now.

But just because that’s the lens today doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.

The shift is learning to prime your mind toward a more positive lens. Think about primer when you’re painting a wall. You don’t skip it if you want the final coat to look right. Primer prepares the surface so that what comes next has a chance to hold. I’m not a painter, mostly because I choose not to be, but if I were painting a room, I wouldn’t think twice about using primer. So why do we treat our minds differently?

Priming your mind isn’t toxic positivity or ignoring reality. It’s choosing, in advance, to look for what’s good first. To practice gratitude for where you are. To ask, “What can I learn here?” instead of immediately assuming the worst.

When you do that, something interesting happens. Good things become more noticeable. Opportunities feel clearer. And over time, more good tends to follow.

Now, some things in life are objectively hard, even devastating. Recently, my wife’s childhood friend passed away at just 42 years old. There’s nothing positive about that loss. Not right now. And pretending otherwise would miss the point.

But for most of life, the situations we face aren’t purely tragic. They’re open to interpretation. And how we experience them often depends on the lens we bring into the moment.

So the real question is a simple one: Are you willing to prime your mind for the positive?

That choice quietly shapes the reality you step into next.

P.S. The Optimistic Outlook is a Podcast! Leaving a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts would mean a lot.