Pay More Attention to the Good Things Out There
Seriously, good things ARE happening in the world at large.
Let’s face it. Bad news sells. Chaos gets attention. Fear makes you look. That’s why the dominant narrative across media – all media – is things that are scary, unpleasant, awful, and surreal.
Yes, shit is happening out there that you need to be aware of. Informed decisions can only be made when you are informed. But the line between sharing and inundated gets constantly blurred. It’s so easy to pile all the bad happenings in the world one atop the next atop the next.
Doing this doesn’t help you know what’s going on. It robs you of your calm, peace of mind, and hope. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wrap my head around how ridiculous things appear to be out there.
I’m not saying you+ can or should turn a blind eye to things. You need to know. But at the same time, putting the majority of your energy and attention into all the bad, awful, negative things robs you of your joy, balance, and empowerment.
You have a choice. You can pay more attention to the good things out there. Despite all the bad, good is still there, and can overcome the bad.
Be mindful of what you read, watch, and share
It’s all too easy to share that story, that meme, and/or that ironic bit on social media. However, that tends to stoke negativity, which in and of itself builds more.
Again, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be angry. But we need to focus our energy less on outrage and matters we have little to no control over, and more on what we can impact. I can’t make these hateful, harmful people stop doing damage to the environment, people different from them, or anything else. All I can do is not emulate them and support people who are better for all.
You can limit how much time you spend on social media, where you visit online, what news sources you look at, and how they make you think and feel. It’s in your power to be mindful of what you read, watch, and share. You can choose to spread the pain and anger or offer a better alternative.
There are lots of ways you can be knowledgeable about current affairs that don’t leave you feeling utterly hopeless, enraged, and miserable. Sure, reading about this shit might start you feeling that way, but you can choose to expand it and dive in deeper. Or you can shift your mindset away from that. You can make a conscious choice to apply active mindfulness rather than let your negative feelings get taken for a ride.
Making this choice empowers you.
There are more good things out there than you might think
I am in no way, shape, or form denying bad shit is happening out there. But it’s not the only things happening in the world.
Big-picture good can be found readily. The Artemis II moon mission underway, some really great movies and books out there, multiple scientific and medical breakthroughs, and more. So many good things are out there. But it takes more work and effort to find and look at them than it takes to see all the bad.
It doesn’t make you a bad or uncaring person if you give time and attention to find the good things out there. You’re not selfish for protecting your mental, emotional, and spiritual health by paying more attention to the good things. You’re making a choice to apply active conscious awareness to protect your mindset/headspace/psyche self.
Start by looking within. It’s too easy to live subconsciously via rote and routine. When you do, you can be quickly disempowered and dragged through endless bad happenings out there. A little applied mindfulness lets you make a different choice.
Because when all is said and done, it is a choice. You can choose to give your time, attention, and energy to bad things or look for and pay attention to the good things out there.
The more you do this – and help others see it as a healthier choice – the more you can do to help shift the narrative of the world.
Often, though, it helps to start small
How’s your life?
You might be struggling. There might be some challenges in your life today. However, you’re here. If you’re reading this, odds are that you have some good things in your life.
Small personal victories are numerous. They’re also easy to disregard and belittle. But when you give them a little more time and energy, you can see that they can be good things. Those good things can help shift you away from negativity and disempowerment to positivity and empowerment.
This isn’t instantaneous. Nor is it one-and-done. There’s no switch to flip, and you can’t employ genuine positivity without recognizing and acknowledging negativity. But nontoxic positivity is easy to come by. It can be found in many little things.
You got out of bed today. You’re breathing. Your heart is beating. Maybe a stranger held a door for you. That driver let you merge. The vending machine at work had your favorite candy in it.
When you pay more attention to the good things out there, you can and will draw more good things to you. That might help others see the positive impact that such has on you, which could inspire them to choose the same.
Since you, and only you, live in your head, heart, and soul, don’t you think you deserve not to be focused on the bad things you can’t really impact? You are worthy and deserving of seeing the good things out there and letting them make you feel hopeful.
Choosing to pay more attention to good things isn’t hard
It’s all about practicing active conscious awareness (mindfulness) of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and the positivity or negativity of your approach to direct your actions.
When you recognize and acknowledge that there are good things happening in the world at large, and closer to home, you can choose to pay more attention to them, and less to the bad things. Knowing that it doesn’t make you a bad person to care for your mental, emotional, and spiritual health, you can shift your time and energy and choose to be in the know without being overwhelmed.
This empowers you. When you’re empowered, that can, in turn, empower others around you.
Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity — from the vast cylinder that exists between them — shifts life in ways that open you to more potential, possibility, and the like. From there, you can recognize, explore, and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you in the here and now.
The better aware you are of yourself, here and now, the better you can choose and decide what, how, and why your life experiences will be. When you empower yourself, it can spread to those around you and empower them, too. That is an amazing conduit to help reason overcome fear in the collective consciousness.
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the six-hundred-thirty-fourth (634) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, reblog, and spread the positivity.
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