Chris Cole FRSA

Let me give you a few old proverbs to get you thinking about the power of our spoken words, thoughts and attitudes: "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is"; "The man who can rule his own heart can rule a city"; "From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks"; "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin". (The school ground chant of 'sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me' is not only weak in comparison - it is also manifestly untrue.)

Now I would not usually start this column with a whole bunch of Bible quotes, but there's some real wisdom in the Old Book and as I was trawling the internet looking for background to this piece these sayings jumped out at me.

All those proverbs kind of lead me to this - Stop whining and start living. No, that's not exactly in the Book, but it's an increasingly popular theme on TV chat shows, from Oprah to Springer, and also in a host of self help books that line the shelves of Smiths and Waterstones. And after years spent running a business, pastoring a church and developing a radio station, I have to say I think it's sound advice.

There are people in our city who have had terrible backgrounds, who fight against illness and difficulty on a daily basis and yet are the most cheerful and helpful people you can wish to meet. We all know someone like that, and they're a joy to be around.

Then there are the folks who, no matter how good life is going, seem to have nothing but negative attitudes, moans, gripes and criticisms, and they tend to be the folks who do not contribute very much to either their own happiness or that of other people. We all know those kind of folk, too.

I know some people wrestle with issues of depression. One of my closest friends and business colleagues has struggled with this for many years, but talking to him he is one of the first to admit that the route out of such seasons includes a determination to see life realistically and positively, promoting the good and relegating the bad to its proper place. This guy knows that the simple effort of getting out of bed, getting into the day, and focusing outwards to serving others instead of inwards on his own faulty thinking, is one of the best medicines for his 'dark nights of the soul'.

These things don't change overnight and there's no quick fix to it, but over time we can genuinely renew our way of thinking.

Half full, or half empty? We all know the saying, and if you think about it, both options are real - a glass can be simultaneously half full and half empty. It's up to us how we look at it, one way will be optimistic and lift our spirits, the other will be negative and bring us down. Life has the same choice of perspective - how do you see it?

King David, again in the Old Book, wrote a song when he was really depressed, addressing his own state of mind. It runs something like this: 'Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God - soon I'll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He's my God.'

We could all benefit from adopting a similar attitude - there's a light at the end of the tunnel, let's act on that hope, stop whining and start living.

This article was originally published in the Plymouth Shopper, a group of 7 localised community newspapers produced by Cornerstone Vision, reaching 62,000 homes every month in Plymouth. Each edition carries positive news stories and features, and provides local businesses, community groups and organisations with a very localised media platform to reach their own area.