Negativity Doesn’t Truly Dominate The World
Seeing this for yourself takes work, however.
I began writing about positivity one Monday some 12.6 years ago. It was in reaction to endless negative posts on Facebook. It was as if everyone I knew, and even people I didn’t really know, had nothing good to say or share.
Over the years, I’ve refined my definition and approach to positivity. It became apparent that much of the positivity out there, though well-meaning, is toxic. On the surface, great idea; in practice, it’s not very healthy. Hence my ongoing emphasis on nontoxic positivity.
Nontoxic positivity recognizes and acknowledges negativity. It’s a yin/yang thing. You can’t have one without the other. Most of what the Universe presents us is neutral in and of itself, but gets bent positive or negative for any number of reasons.
The trouble is that we live in a fear-based society. For this reason, media, social media, and other information outlets go out of their way to share negativity. The latest lie from the lips of that politician, the most recent civil-rights violations across the globe, how AI will terribly reshape the world, and the like are everywhere you turn. It can feel very much like negativity outweighs positivity and dominates the world.
However, the truth is: NEGATIVITY DOES NOT DOMINATE THE WORLD.
Pause and reflect
I don’t know your circumstances. Nor can I. However, if you’re reading this, I can make an educated guess or two. For the most part, you are probably, presently, mostly okay.
Please note – I am not in any way, shape, or form denying there’s some seriously fucked-up shit happening in the world today. People are needlessly suffering all over for all sorts of reasons. However, as much as I feel bad about that, for the most part I’m okay.
Yes, the cost of things keeps rising because of what terrible people are doing and allowing. So I’m feeling that pinch like everyone else. However, I’m still okay. I’m alive, living, breathing, thinking, feeling. I have family and friends I can commiserate with. There are choices and decisions available to me to make changes and improvements along the way.
Chances are, if you have the tech and time to read this, your experience is largely similar. The suck is a clear and present danger, but in the present you’re mostly okay. And as much as that might not seem positive, it truly is.
Positivity seldom needs to be grand and glorious things. It’s largely seeking, finding, and/or creating good with consciously aware choices and decisions. Many of these are quite small, but the reality is that all the little things add up. Nothing big is created out of the void; it’s built on the smaller bits and pieces.
Hence, if you’re currently alive, mostly healthy, and free, you have a ton of positivity available to you.
Negativity sells shit
The naked, unapologetic truth is that negativity sells. Making you feel bad about yourself sells you cars, clothes, watches, diet pills, and other goods and services. The fear of missing out (FOMO) sells you the updated version of the phone you already have that’s working just fine, a tchotchke you think will make you happy, and other stuff. People watch videos and programs where you see others suffering. Eyes are drawn to negative clickbait.
Due to this being a fear-based society – fear being a key negative element – of course it looks like negativity dominates. It’s hard to see past it because it’s like a drug. A seemingly easy pill to swallow that you wouldn’t swallow if you stopped and thought about it.
Because that’s the thing. For all the stories about awful, selfish, self-serving, uncompassionate assholes, more people are good, selfless, helpful, caring, and compassionate. Look around you. Aren’t most of the people you know, the ones you voluntarily spend time with, among the good rather than the bad?
The prevalence of negativity and its seeming dominance is a lie. But in our fear-based, capitalist-obsessed society, it’s weaponized to sell you all kinds of things, both tangible and intangible.
The reality is very different, however. Lack and scarcity tend to be largely artificial, made to make you believe things are running out, whether literal or figurative. However, this is an abundant universe we live in, and that’s positive, not negative.
Be mindful when choosing and deciding
I know that what I’m suggesting might feel disingenuous. In the face of all the shit going on, how can I suggest seeking, finding, and/or creating positivity? Easy – because there’s more in life to be positive about than negative.
You are here. Now. Ergo, you have the ability to make choices and decisions to experience life on so, so many different levels. Yes, admittedly, you might have challenges in your current circumstances, but you’re still here and living. Ergo, you have choices and decisions available to you.
People tend to tune things out and let their subconscious mind do all the work. Rote, routine, and habit drive. That’s a choice. You can also choose to be present, in the now, and apply active conscious awareness to making choices and decisions. Mindfully, you can choose nontoxic positivity over negativity when you do that.
Like attracts like. The more we allow negativity to dominate, the more it will appear to do so. We need to make better choices and decisions that help persuade society to lessen the use of negativity to sell shit to us.
I can’t do this for anyone else. You can’t, either. But when we each make our own choices aiming to use more nontoxic positivity, it has a cumulative effect. Like compound interest, positivity compounds. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s utterly worth striving to generate more for everyone.
Knowing negativity doesn’t truly dominate the world 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.
Recognizing and acknowledging that negativity is used to sell all kinds of tangibles and intangibles, and that for the most part we’re in an okay place, we can turn away from that end of the spectrum. Knowing that more good than bad exists in the world based on the people we associate with by choice, we can do more to utilize nontoxic positivity to counteract the negativity via mindfully made choices and decisions.
This empowers you. When you’re empowered, that can, in turn, empower others around you. That’s why I share these weekly posts with 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 more aware you are of yourself in the present, 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-fifty-seventh (657) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energy for everyone. Feel free to share, reblog, and spread the positivity.
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