Mr Smith opens one eye and looks at his alarm clock. Only thirty minutes left before he has to wake up and go to work! He closes his eyes again and thinks about the unfairness of life, about him having to wake up early every morning and getting out of his warm bed to a cold morning, and about how long it has been since he has had the opportunity of sleeping until late.

The sharp sound of the alarm interrupts his thoughts. He makes his way to the bathroom feeling cold and still fuzzy and opens the shower, shocked by how cold the water is. He’s still thinking about the unfairness of having to leave the warmth of his bed so early in the morning and is unable to find the right water temperature, until he gives up and leaves the shower, cold and in a bad mood.

To make matters worse, while driving on his way to work another driver almost crashes into him, and Mr Smith only manages to avoid the accident by a split second, by turning his steering wheel quickly to the opposite direction. This makes his mood even worse and he starts shouting at the other driver as feelings of anger and exasperation wash over him.

His day at work isn’t any better. Mr Smith spends all day thinking about how boring his job is: meeting the same people every day, doing the same things every day; nothing new ever happening.

He gets back home after work looking forward to a nice warm meal after having had such a terrible day and finds a note from his wife telling him that she is out shopping. This is the last straw for Mr Smith! While he has spent his day working hard for his family he gets home and his wife has gone shopping, without having cooked anything for him!

He fixes himself a quick meal and goes immediately to bed, glad to end this horrible day, and before falling asleep, his last thought is that the next day will be exactly the same as this one.

Jack opens his eyes in the morning, looks at his alarm clock and realises he still has some more time left before his alarm clock rings and he has to wake up for work. He turns in his bed, enjoying the last few minutes under the soft sheets and thinking about the warmth and cosiness of his bed, and of how great it is to have a few more minutes enjoying it before having to get up.

The alarm rings, he gets out and goes to the bathroom to have a shower, revelling under the cool water and washing away sleep, thinking about how he is energising himself for the day to come.

On his way to work, he manages to avoid an accident as he quickly turns his steering wheel while another driver is about to hit him. He takes a deep breath and concentrates on how he was able to think and react quickly enough to avoid this accident, and feels proud of himself and of his reflexes and driving abilities.

He has a quiet day at work, everything goes smoothly and he enjoys the fact that no new problems arose.

When he gets back home he finds himself alone as his wife is out shopping. Though he is feeling tired and hungry, he thinks of all that his wife does for him and decides to cook a simple dinner for him and his wife to surprise her when she gets home, thinking that it would be more worth it than eating something quickly alone and then going to sleep since his wife’s happiness is tied with his own and by making her happy he would also be making his day even better.

When his wife gets home she is delighted by his surprise and this makes him feel really good and proud of having been able to make her happy.

He goes to bed appreciating all his wife does for him, glad that he has quite a good job and thinking about how he can improve himself to make his life even better. His last thought is that he is very happy with his life, and he is looking forward to another day filled with success and joy.

It seems that Jack is leading the life of his dreams while the unlucky Mr Smith is stuck in a boring and terrible life which he can never improve, doesn’t it?

However the truth is that Mr Smith and Jack are actually the same person and that we have just described the exact same day in his life! While the first description of the day is full of negativity and bad feelings, the second one is seen through a positive lens, and even though it describes the same events as the first one it has a positive note.

This shows clearly that it’s not the events in a person’s life that make a person happy or sad, but it’s his attitude towards life. When a person is negative any event will seem bad, and this person’s mood will only get worse, no matter what happens. But when a person has a positive attitude and looks at the bright side of things this person’s life will seem and be a lot better, and his positivity will attract more positivity as he will be able to make the people around him happy, thus contributing to his own happiness!

While the first version of Jack Smith sees everything in a negative light and considers his life terrible, the second version appreciates everything about his life and considers it a happy one. A change of attitude is all that is needed to make this transition and improve your life!

Which version of Jack Smith would you like to be?