I had a rough day at work. When I got home I was exhausted and tired and frustrated and exasperated. I just wanted to go to sleep and be done with the whole day. Then I opened the door to my apartment and found my wife inside making dinner, and I smiled. It was in that moment, in that fraction of an instant, that I had a revelation. It was a recurring epiphany that I am reminded of when I need to be. Life is simply about focusing on the positive. Anything else is anti-productive.

I always try to look on the bright side or point it out to others when they have a cloud of despair hanging over them. My glass is half-full at the very least. It’s a lesson I learn over and over as I cycle through life’s ups and downs. It’s something I learned from the woman who I rented an apartment from in the Bronx. In many ways she is one of my Heroes.

My landlady was in her seventies and had a pacemaker. Her husband had died some time ago and she lived on her own although within walking distance of her closest relatives. Now I believe they were her late husband’s family but it’s possible they were just old friends. Her entire family had been slaughtered in concentration camps. She told me how her brother sacrificed his life so that she could have a chance for survival. She was a young girl and she did survive the Nazis only to be ‘rescued’ by the Communists. She worked in a Russian vodka factory and traded her vodka-paycheck on the black market in order to survive. This kind old lady who shuffled around in the apartment below me was a survivor and a fighter. Despite all she had suffered through she had the most refreshingly positive outlook on life.

It was about ten years ago and she was going to visit Israel. She had traveled there a few times prior and had friends there too. At the time there was a rash of terrorist bus bombings going on and I remember my roommate asking her this question: “ Aren’t you afraid to get on a bus when you’re there?” She answered quite simply, “ Oh no, what to I have to be afraid of? What can they do to me?” She had been through worse than anything anyone could do to her again. Death did not scare her and the thought of being killed in a senseless and violent manner did not phase her in the least.

I wake up everyday ready to handle whatever comes my way. I don’t always have the energy I’d like to, but I always use everything I have to try to remain focused on the positive. Events, occurrences, problems and people alike assault our minds on a daily basis and it’s just too easy to give in to the negative feelings and thoughts. But it is the struggle to stay positive that excites me every waking minute. Life is one test after another and they don’t necessarily get easier as you go. I feel that patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait and in the end everyone does get what they deserve. All I can ever remember wanting was to be the happiest person I can be. The only way I can achieve this on a daily basis is by sharing a little positive energy with everyone I come into contact with.

When I closed the door to my apartment and hugged my wife all the negative residue of the day was cleansed from my mind. With the memory of my old landlady rushing through my thoughts I asked my wife how her day was.