Drawing intellectual cues from Dr Maxwell Maltz, writing in his Psycho-Cybernetics classic:

"I am a firm believer in 'negative thinking' when used correctly. We need to be AWARE of negatives so that we can steer clear of them.

A golfer needs to know where the bunkers and sand traps are - but he doesn't think continuously about the bunker - where he doesn't want to go.

His mind glances at the bunker, but he DWELLS upon the green."

He added:

“Our errors, mistakes, failures, and sometimes even our humiliations, were necessary steps in the learning process. However, they were meant to be means to an end - and not an end in themselves.

When they have served their purpose, they should be forgotten. If we consciously dwell on the error, or consciously feel guilty about the error and keep berating ourselves because of it, then - unwittingly - the error or failure itself becomes the "goal" that is consciously held in imagination and memory.”!

“Remember you will not always win. Some days, the most resourceful individual will taste defeat. But there is, in this case, always tomorrow - after you have done your best to achieve success today.”

More from him:

“Live in the present.

The past is gone; the future is unknown -- but the present is real, and your opportunities are now. You must see these opportunities; they must be real for you.

The catch is that they can't seem real if your mind is buried in past failures, if you keep reliving old mistakes, old guilts, old tragedies. Fight your way above the many inevitable Traumatizations of your ego, escape damnation by the past, and look to the opportunities of the present.

I don't mean some vague moment in the present -- next week or next month, perhaps. I mean today, this minute.”

What I have learned:

Perspective Matters! So much of our happiness depends on how we choose to look at the world.

Frankly, life is all about perspective. Sometimes, all it takes is a tiny shift of perspectve!

Enjoy! Godspeed.