Care to Know Why I Believe the World Needs More Genuine Positivity?
Because positivity is an attitude that can create empowering change for everyone.
Why did I start writing about Positivity every week over 9 years ago? Because one Monday, I noticed that every single post from all my friends on social media was negative.
Everyone was either expressing concern about ongoing problems in the world at large, personal issues, hatred of Monday and the work week, and so on. A wave of negativity that was akin to sinking to the bottom of a lake.
I started to write about positivity weekly. The goal? Counter the negativity out there.
In the past decade, Positivity has become an increasingly applied buzzword. Unfortunately, much of that has been toxic positivity.
The difference between toxic positivity and genuine positivity is simple. Toxic positivity ignores, denies, disregards, and disrespects negativity. It takes a “be positive or else” attitude that’s utterly divorced from real life.
Genuine positivity is not a cure-all. It’s a choice of attitude. It uses negativity as the impetus for its very existence. It isn’t an all “rah-rah, be positive” notion. It’s a choice to look towards better – the positive – rather than sink into the negative.
That’s why I began to write about this weekly. And I believe in the power of genuine positivity. But toxic positivity often gets in the way.
Positivity is not just positive thinking (at all)
There are many, many messages being constantly broadcast about thinking positively. All you must do, they tell you, is think positively, and you’ll have all the power to do whatever you want.
This is the basis of toxic positivity. You are told that if all your thoughts get directed to positivity – your life will be better. BUT – you must avoid, ignore, and put blinders on regarding negativity. Nope. None.
That’s total bullshit. And this is why, when many people read or hear the word “positivity,” they cringe. And thanks to toxic positivity, that often comes with a thought like, here we go again – another message about how much I suck because I can’t think positively all the time.
The reality of positivity is not thought, nor feeling. It’s an attitude. It’s a choice in any given situation to pause, look at where you are, where you have been, and consider where you’re going – and then decide what attitude to take.
It could just be to go with whatever happens, happens. You might choose an attitude of aw, fuck it – doesn’t matter because it’s all shit anyhow, right?
Or you can look for the good in the bad, learn a lesson from the bad or unideal situations that you can use to change your life for the better – and choose an attitude of positivity.
It is a choice. And it’s not a one-and-done choice. You must make it often. Why? Because change happens – and what you choose today can and will be different tomorrow.
But here’s something else to take to heart.
Nobody’s perfect
Everyone on planet Earth is perfectly imperfect. Nobody’s perfect. That’s largely because perfection – like beauty – is in the eye of the beholder.
What’s more – there is no perfect. You might think something is perfect – but I assure you, someone else thinks what you consider to be perfect is an utter, chaotic mess.
That being written – you’re going to get it wrong. You can’t and won’t always choose to seek out positivity.
Shit happens. Some of it is truly awful. When your world comes crashing down upon you – thinking anything positive becomes a tremendous, impossible challenge. Positivity? Sorry, I’m too busy being sad/angry/hurt right now.
Guess what? That’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay. It’s utterly normal. I’ve never met a single person who doesn’t experience this from time to time.
Eventually, however, you will have a new choice to make. When you practice conscious awareness – you know, mindfulness – you can choose a new attitude. Then, you can choose one of gratitude and positivity – if you so desire.
The choice is yours. And you will make it many, many times throughout your whole life.
Sometimes you won’t recognize that you choose poorly until long after you made the choice. I’ve done this plenty of times – and still do.
But do you know what the beauty of this is? You get to make new choices ALL THE TIME.
One way to recognize genuine positivity is via gratitude.
Gratitude and positivity
Genuine gratitude is positivity. It’s positive for both the giver and the receiver of it.
Gratitude is one of the purest forms of positivity there is. Because there is no way to be grateful or thankful and negative.
Genuine gratitude is positive both for the person giving it and the person receiving it. This is incredibly empowering.
One of the best ways to experience genuine positivity is via genuine gratitude. And gratitude is more than thought and feeling – it’s a full-blown attitude.
Accountability
Finally, I’d like to address the elephant in the room. Accountability.
If you look at many of the problems in the world today – the root cause is a lack of accountability. Rather than be accountable for jack shit – from the government to business to individuals – blame usually takes precedence.
Ludicrous amounts of resources are spent to learn who and/or what’s to blame. More often than not – this is a distraction or obfuscation to avoid being accountable or taking responsibility.
Just look at the last American presidential election. There are people in power STILL telling a known, proven lie about the outcome – because taking any responsibility will be seen as weakness or some other bullshit excuse. But I digress.
The point is – the only person who can be accountable for you and your life is you. And if it sucks – sorry, this will be harsh – you have some responsibility (possibly all responsibility) for that.
Genuine positivity will only work when you’re accountable for your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions (in other words – mindful). Otherwise, it doesn’t matter. If you’re not being accountable for your life experience – your attitude won’t change a thing.
I’ve realized this in my own practices. And that’s why I’m being blunter with these statements – but also taking new approaches to my positivity – and being more accountable to truly empower myself. Then sharing this with you.
But from accountability, you and I can find and create more genuine positivity via our attitudes. And when you and I are more genuinely positive, we’re more empowered. That can be contagious in the best way.
Seeing how the world could use more genuine positivity isn’t hard
It’s all about working with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, and intentions to direct your actions.
When you see that genuine positivity is an attitude – not just thought or feeling – you can make greater use of that to positively impact your life experience. Knowing that genuine positivity can be found via genuine gratitude – and employed with accountability – you can use it to choose to better your life, and your corner of the world (and that might spread beyond you to the world at large).
This empowers you – and in turn, your empowerment can empower others around you. Then that can expand to change the bigger picture matters, too.
Taking an approach to positivity and negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts matters in a way to open more dialogue. In that form, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.
Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.
Lastly, the better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can also open those around you to their empowerment.
To me, that’s a worthwhile endeavor to explore and share.
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the four hundred-and-seventy-eighth entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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