In life you have two choices. You can pick to be positive about things or negative about things. Before we jump in, I want to clear something up. This isn't a blog about self help, and I am not trying to say, "think positive and everything will go your way". That's not reality and that type of thinking skips over a lot of the good stuff in life that gives us depth and enjoyment.
I want to talk about having a positive mindset and lens in which we filter everything through. A lot of people that follow along with me online comment on how I seem to always be so positive and happy. I am very much a positive person and happiness is generally there, but I also became that way. I was not born that way.
In a way you could say the positivity switch birthed only out of hitting rock bottom by having a negative view of the world that just didn’t work anymore.
In order to understand positivity, we need to talk about its counterpart negativity. A negative view of the world and life is toxic.
You may have people in your life that literally feel like they suck the energy out of you. That is because they do.
Sometimes I interact with people who make my toes curl in my shoes, and then I realize..."Wow, there is a lot of negativity and hurt going on here". Normally these people view the world as scarce, as if everything is always bad, and that everything is out to get them.
I understand this view. I can resonate with it. This view makes for a stressful existence that often views all of life's struggles as a curse instead of viewing it as a gift and a chance to learn and grow. It's really a barbaric way to think, but some of us are raised and conditioned to view things a certain way. I get it. I've been there.
Questions I want to ask you.... "How is it going? How is your view of life working for you? Is everything against you or is everything for you? Is the world going to burn up one day or is it on it's way to healing, growth, and expansion?"
These questions will determine if you're negative or positive.
In the music industry there is so much negativity. It's easy to be negative because this line of work is hard. It's often under paid and credit is usually blurry at best. A lot of people in town keep plugging away, yet when I speak to them they think the industry is broken, that the internet and streaming killed record sales, and that eventually it's all going to collapse. Wrapped up in that negativity is usually grumblings of entitlement as well.
This type of thinking and view of the industry many choose to be in is toxic. It's bad for your health, it's bad for your clients and it's bad for your relationships. People choose to be negative because there is actually community in negativity. This is interesting because it points to a core desire and need we all have. We all desire to have people. We all desire to belong somewhere and we will look for it any place we can find it.
When we find community, it's often easier to stay in that community even if it's not really working because moving on seems harder. There is power in numbers and toxicity and misery attracts those who have been hurt and broken. Being negative is easy. There will always be plenty of people who have been jaded by life and what it has done to them, but you always have a choice.
You have a choice to change your mindset. You have a choice to break out from the same toxic groups of people you interact with.
You don't owe anyone anything, you are not responsible for anyones happiness. You don't need permission to leave negative people behind.
Everything we encounter is a chance to grow, learn, and expand. The things we once viewed as negative become teaching points. The relationships that once sucked the life out of us either get left behind or become relationships where we become more accepting of people. Often I find that when a relationship bothers me, it only bothers me because it is poking at an unresolved hurt or insecurity I have somewhere. This awareness has helped me heal myself which then has allowed me to heal relationships that I once viewed as negative or to make peace with them and say good bye.
We should be so lucky to even have the chance to encounter this life and existence. We should be so grateful that we even have the chance to accept that what is happening to us is an opportunity to learn and grow and become more whole. It's all a gift and being negative gets you no where. There is no return on complaining or excuses. There is no return on viewing everyone against you. It's an insult to the world we live in to view it as a place that is damned to hell. That is negative and that is surrounded by fear, power, greed, and control.
It is impossible to be positive if your life is one of exclusion.
You can flip your mindset around pretty quickly. If you begin to view each day as a gift and approach life with questions then things shift. I ask everything that comes up, "What is there to learn here?". If you do this, nothing should shake you for very long because everything becomes a chance to grow in wisdom and acceptance. If you can start down that path, you will run into peace and inclusion quickly. Positivity will begin to be your aroma.
Soon your work will be a gift. The process and journey will be a blessing. Your outlook on yourself will become one of gratefulness and healing will begin. The peace and positivity that you see other people have is attainable and often is not very far away.
Within this, there are those that fake positivity but it often gets exposed over time or as humans we can sniff it out quickly. We don't always have to be positive but we can always filter things through positivity. Sometimes we need to vent and sometimes we need to release but this is only one small step in moving forward. We can't stop there, we have to move forward and not shrink. We have to face reality and accept that things will happen to us, negative and positive, and that we always have a choice on how we want to handle it. Everything is a gift.
Be a person who is accepting and proactive instead of resistant and reactive.
Choose positivity.
Peace
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