This is a tough situation to escape because it’s self-perpetuating, as anyone stuck in negative thinking knows all too well. Negative experiences feed your negative expectations, which then attract new negative experiences. Most people who enter this pattern never escape it in their entire lives. And that goes for everyone – whether you’ve a PhD or GED. Yes …it’s just that difficult to escape. If you beat yourself up for being too negative, you’re simply reinforcing the pattern, not breaking out of it.
I think our people here in the nature isle are stuck in this trap, and will remain stuck until they experience an elevation in their consciousness – which will help them from making negative judgments against each other. They have to recognize that they’re trapped and that continuing to fight their own negativity while still recognizing that it’s a battle that can never be won.
Think about it. If beating yourself up for being too whiny was going to work, wouldn’t it have worked a long time ago? Are you any closer to a solution for all the effort you’ve invested in this plan of attack? Instead of resisting the negativity head-on, acknowledge and accept its presence. The solution I like best is to stop fighting and surrender – which will actually raise your consciousness.
Overcoming negativity
You can actually learn to embrace the negative thoughts running through your head and allowing them to just be. If you’re caught up in negativity, your job is to develop your consciousness to the point where you can learn to stay focused on what you want, to create positively instead of destructively. It may take you more than a lifetime to accomplish that, and that’s OK. Your life is always reflecting back to you the contents of your consciousness.
If you don’t like what you’re experiencing, that’s because your skill at conscious creation remains underdeveloped. That’s not a problem though because you’re here to develop it. You’re experiencing exactly what you’re supposed to be experiencing so you can learn. Negativity doesn’t have to be a permanent condition; we still have the freedom to choose otherwise.
Eckhart Toole makes this point in his books, “The Power of Now” and “A New Earth”. He has a few exercises that allow individuals to be more focused on the “Now” vs. focusing on the past or the future. He makes several points in the books, one of them is that in this moment, there can be no negativity.
One of the exercises that works to reduce the incessant thinking of the mind (that inevitably turn to negative thoughts) is to focus completely on every task that you are doing. For example, if you are brushing your teeth, focus on the the toothpaste, focus on watching yourself put the toothpaste on the brush, focus on how the toothpaste and toothbrush feel in your mouth, listen to the water splash around your mouth. Your total focus on something as small as brushing your teeth prevents you from thinking negative thoughts regarding the day (the future). He describes this as being in the “Now”. The more time you spend in the Now, the less time you spend allowing yourself to be the past or always hoping for a better tomorrow. Coming to the understanding that this moment is perfect, where you are is satisfying and undoubtebly serves a purpose in the tapestry of your life, allows you to be positive in every moment.
Another exercise he shares involves enjoying the moment, when you wake up in the morning, enjoy making your bed, enjoy making breakfast, etc. In making a conscious effort to enjoy every moment, you will find that you are more positive because you will not allow the little things to be viewed as negative.
My final thought involves a story Eckhart Toole shares with the readers, it is called, “Is that so”. The story illustrates that it is our perception rather than reality that determines whether we characterize an event as positive or negative. (This is paraphrased).
“There was a monk who won a new car and all the people in the village exclaimed, ‘How lucky you are!’, the monk simply smiled and said, ‘Is that so?’.
Later on that evening while the monk was driving home he got into a car accident and had to spend the night in the hospital. The people in the village exclaimed, ‘How unlucky, you crashed your new car!’, the monk simply smiled and replied, ‘Is that so?’
The next morning when he arrived home, he found there had been a fire overnight and his bedroom was badly burned, the people in the village exclaimed, ‘How lucky you were in the hospital during the fire’, the monk, in his infinite wisdom smiled and replied, ‘Is that so?’
Suki K Tranqille
Chris,
I agree with you totally any project you want to start is quickly demolished by Dominicans telling you at least 100 reasons why it won’t work and if you are lucky one or two telling you it may work but…
My motto is I can do “ALL THINGS” through Christ who strengthens me, with that also one needs skills.
We have to really get to grips with overcoming negativity it drains energy and wilts focus.
I look forwatrd to your article having some positive impact.
It seems to me that you can always find negativity anywhere – the key is to look for positivity. I recently spoke with someone about the Gardens in Dominica and all the great work they are doing to restore its reputation. It was a very positive, inspirational conversation. Dominica has the world’s most eco-friendly hotel and the owner I understand has received many awards for that. I saw his story on YouTube and was inspired by his can do attitude. Dominicans enjoy a low crime rate that would be the envy of any nation and Dominica has been at the forefront of environmentally sound energy. Dominica inspires so much that those who leave the island or are children of island natives are very interested in being a part of its affairs. My personal favorite is the day that is set aside for cleaning up the island, this is an example that other country’s would do well to emulate. To combat negativity, next time someone tells you how bad things are, you tell them how good things are.
Instead of asking “Do you think we can go forward with this project?”, ask instead, “How can we go forward with this project?” I think you will find that asking a different question changes the nature of the response.
Suki K Tranqille
Agree 100% 🙂
Good for you. But remember, some of us are non-believers, and others have different beliefs.