I had an interesting bedtime-stalling conversation with my six year old recently. He asked why bad things happen. What do you say to that!?

I told him we would never know to appreciate the good if there wasn't any bad in our lives. He then asked if good wins over bad. I told him, "Of course!" Then I had to prove this.

I said if we tried really hard, we could think of three good things for every one bad thing. We tested it out. He picked bees as a bad thing because they sting you. We came up with these good things: 1. Bees give us honey. 2. Bees make the flowers beautiful. 3. Bees help give us delicious fruit.

There are a lot of frustrating things going on around us with unemployment, soft real estate markets, natural disasters, economic turmoil, uncertainty, and much, much more. 

My suggestion: start practicing optimism today. Try harder to think of the good in every situation vs. the bad. Turn the negatives into positve challenges that stretch you and help you grow. I believe good things will happen for you.