“An entire sea of
water cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world cannot
get you down unless you allow it to get inside of you!”
Unknown
The world is a hard place to function at our highest
level with so much negativity constantly swirling around us. Avoiding negativity completely is impossible
yet there is a lot we can do to limit our exposure and stop the negativity from
getting inside.
Too often though we get stuck in the negatives, dwelling
on failures much more than our gains.
Most of us are conditioned to lean toward the negative. And some studies have shown that it is a lot
easier for people to dwell on and accept the bad than the good. It is also proven that once we view something
as negative, that negativity gets “stuck”, and the ability to view that same
thing in a different way becomes very difficult.
Understanding this reality that the negative can come
quicker, and sticks easier and longer helps us realize we must begin the
process of staying positive. Remaining
positive requires work but is well worth it.
Here are 5 simple ways to keeping more positive.
The first thing we can do is avoid inviting negativity
into our life. Knowing that the negative
is hard to shake, we can remove our exposure to it. For example, not long ago I subscribed to a
news feed so that I could keep up with what was going on in the world. Though I
was better informed with daily updates, I realized how negative the news was
and that I was reading it nearly every morning.
This bad news instantly brought negativity to my day. I’ve noticed a difference since unsubscribing
to the news feed. Much like this simple example,
we often innocently invite negativity into our life. Look for ways to eliminate the negative form
your life and seek opportunities to surround yourself with the positive.
Another way to stay positive is to express
gratitude. Something as simple as training
ourselves to make a daily list of things we are grateful for can help clear our
minds of negative thoughts and help us stay grounded in the good.
Another way to thwart out the negative is to share good
news with others. Too often when we talk
we are sharing something negative. Try
hard to become aware of what you are sharing and frequently share the good. Doing so has a positive effect not only on
you but others as well.
Smiling more is another simple way. I know to some this may sound silly but
making a conscious effort to smile more will help you stay positive and
energized.
One last thing we can do is forgive others. Many of us are holding on to grudges or
injustices in our life which only produce negativity. Let these things go as they are never worth
the energy and bad feelings they produce.
Finally, there are many negative things that we do that
we are told are helpful but usually aren’t.
One common one is venting or sharing our frustrations with others. People sometimes say that getting it out and
laying it on the table helps but venting normally does not do anyone any
good. Instead it trains our minds to
focus on the bad and often leads us to exaggerate and feel worse than we had
originally felt in the first place. It
also can bring the person down with whom we are sharing the information with.
So remember, once we focus on the negative it gets stuck
and makes it hard for us to reverse our perspective and our course. It is a lot easier for us to just stay
positive by expressing our gratitude, sharing good news, smiling, forgiving,
and avoiding the negative. Though we are
conditioned toward the negative, let’s focus on the positive. After all, we can’t be sunk by it if we never
allow it to get inside.
