If you want to enjoy the good things that life can bring and not the toxic ooze that can eat away at your soul – and your best pair of sneakers – then take a look at these 3 keys to a positive mindset. They will make your days happier and your nights less freaked out by flying squids.
Hope in the Face of Challenges
The other day I found myself in the middle of a smooth situation. I don’t mean it was easy by any stretch, but the phrase “hairy situation” just seemed completely inappropriate as flying squids were involved.
I was walking home from picking up some groceries at our local, organic market: Brains!

I was passing Larry Lake when I spotted a flying squid coming my way, just looking for someone to pull into the air and drop to the ground. I immediately turned around to head back only to see a scorse (scorpion-tailed horse) heading my way from the rear. With a lake to my right and untraversable terrain to my left, I was stuck. That’s when I remembered the 3 keys to a positive mindset.
Sure, I could just give up and find out which one would get me first, but I employed key number one: hope. I believed I would find a way out of this situation – at least I hoped I would.
Creative Approaches to Solutions
I had a couple weeks worth of plant-based brains in my bags and I wasn’t ready to ditch them. I also knew I couldn’t go forward, backward, or to my left. My only options were up, down, and to my right.
I had no way to dig or fly, so I was stuck with the lake. It was the only way out of this, but that created its own challenges. I could get in the water, but I would be easy to spot from the sky. The toxic ooze has a way of illuminating its contents. I could hide under the dock, but it was in such disrepair it didn’t do much to conceal what lies underneath.
I was holding on to hope, but I hadn’t yet fully embraced creativity, the second of the 3 keys to a positive mindset. What’s more, the scorse and squid were both closing in, but neither had yet noticed me.

That’s when it hit me: neither the squid nor the scorse would pay any attention to my bags’ plant-based payload. I could safely put them anywhere, and they would be ignored. I realized I could use the third of the 3 keys to a positive mindset to safely avoid these frightening foes: cleverness.
Clever Twists to Exciting Problems
I knew I had to go in the lake. I knew I had to avoid being seen. I knew that my brains were safe on their own.
The only wildcard was the bags. Sadly, I had been stuck in the mindset of seeing them as bags, but as I employed hope and creativity, I started to realize the bags didn’t have to be bags. Ripped open, they were giant sheets of… I’m going to say… hmmm… I don’t know what these are made out of.

Anyway, I ripped open the bags, laid them on the dock, put the brains on top to hold them down, and then slunk underneath the dock and waited.
It wasn’t long until I heard the flapping of wings and the galloping of hooves. It was soon followed by neighing and that hearty beating of wings. I peaked out from under the dock to see the squid pull the scorse into the sky. After they were quite a ways up, I saw the scorse sting the squid and they both plummeted into the lake.
I took the opportunity to grab my things and go. A post-apocalyptic squid won’t stay stunned forever, and scorses can swim.
3 Keys to a Positive Mindset
When you employ hope that you can find solutions, creativity to look at possibilities, and cleverness to think of things in a different way, you will enjoy a more exciting life. Simply remember these three simple steps:

- Hope: Believe that you can find solutions
- Creativity: Look for possibilities
- Cleverness: Find a new way to look at things
It’s more than just a fun at work day or a way to make chores into fun activities. It’s a different way of looking at the world. It’s a world that you have ways to make new opportunities for yourself, even in the midst of flying squids.
When you employ these 3 keys to a positive mindset, you can build a future around what you enjoy doing. You can even trick your brain into doing what you don’t want to do. It’s a way to take control of your life and have fun doing it. Change your mindset and change your life.