Before the video era existed, my sister and I would spend countless hours playing board games. I loved them all - Monopoly, Battleship, Connect 4 and the list goes on and on. The one that sticks out as being incredibly relevant to life is Chutes and Ladders. It was a game where players try to land on ladders so they can move steps ahead while avoiding chutes which send you back a number of squares.

It was an exciting game of Ups and Downs. As you spin the spinner and move your pawn the number of spaces shown, if you land on a good deed, you move up. But, if you land on a naughty deed, down the chute you go.

As we climb the success ladder in life, it's inevitable that we'll stumble on a loose rung now and then. And, sometimes we're even the cause of the loose rung because of our naughty deeds on our rise to fame and fortune. Our upside attitude will determine whether we lose our footing or find our center and remain balanced despite the outcome. Additionally, these daily challenges strengthen our character so that it is through adversity that we may recognize the power within us to succeed.

Upside Thinking is about unlimited possibilities in and around us. It isn't about challenges not happening or avoiding them either. Regardless of what happens to us or around us, we are where we choose to be. Always choosing to live upside guarantees that good things will continue to happen in our lives. Looking on the bright side of life and expecting incredible, wonderful happenings in our life condition us to seek out more of that. Remember, thoughts become things.

Is your pattern of thinking "upside"? When we make the decision to choose upsde over and over again, it becomes a habit. The process of designing our destiny has begun, whether we know it or not.