Why do we need positivity now more than ever?
Because fighting fire with fire (or negativity with negativity) never works. Positivity matters in conscious reality creation.
Perfect vision is indicated by 20/20. It is not without irony that the year 2020 is proving to be among the cloudiest and least clear years on record.
COVID-19 has created the greatest amount of uncertainty and related negativity most of us have ever experienced. Never before has the future been so utterly lacking in clarity.
When will we be able to cease practicing social distancing? How at risk am I for getting sick? What will happen to the elections in November? What batshit insane conspiracy theory will people believe next?
If it was just uncertainty, that would be one thing. But it is so much more than that. With a total lack of leadership at the top in the United States, people are prone to believe a lot of lies and misinformation about the coronavirus. The level of fear being driven is maddening. How can these “people” be so callous and outright cruel in the face of so many deaths? It is massively distressing.
Negativity is dominating every aspect of society right now. Disputes over absolutely ludicrous things are unbelievably common. Nobody is trampling on anybody’s rights by requiring masks and social distancing. Stay at home orders are to protect the populace, not to deny anyone any liberties. Reason gets bulldozed by privilege, fear, and frankly – idiocy.
Now, more than ever, we need to find and/or create positivity. Every little bit in the fight for sanity within the collective consciousness counts.
Negativity builds upon itself
I don’t know about you, but I do not need to find more things to anger, upset, and depress me right now. More and more I encounter new and worse stories about things people are doing, not doing, and the surreal heartlessness of those who can and should make a difference for the better.
In the face of all of that, what can I do?
The answer is to pay attention to my headspace, my mindset, and mindfulness. Nobody else is in my head unless I allow them to take residence there. I am the only one capable of thinking, feeling, and acting for me.
All of this negativity is like waves crashing against the shore – the shore in this regard being my subconscious. Some of the waves wash over it and leave a mark – unless I build a better barrier. In this case – consciousness.
Mindfulness makes me aware of what I am thinking, what and how I am feeling, and what intention is behind my actions. That puts me in the here-and-now and makes me conscious.
When you are conscious of your mindset/headspace/psyche you can overcome the negativity washing over your subconscious. You can choose to continue to feed the negativity – or take another approach.
Toxic positivity ignores the negative. That’s not the kind of positivity this is about. You need to know what is going on out there – all the bad – so that you can do that which is within your power to resist it, alter it, change it, and so on. Positivity, in this regard, is small things to build upon in directing your consciousness to be proactive instead of reactive.
Proactive versus reactive
All too often we are reactive. Things happen and you react to them. Frequently, that is because shit happens beyond our control. You didn’t want the car accident, to be fired from your job, to lose your loved one, and so on.
However, after the initial reaction what you do is up to you. You can choose to continue to be in a position where you will be constantly reacting – or you can do things proactively to handle this.
There is no one-size-fits-all way to approach this. Every reaction to every situation is different. The thoughts and emotions produced take each of us to different places in different ways. But being mindful of THAT opens you to be able to make choices in the now to impact the long run.
It is not in the present society to think in terms of the long run. However, neither is it common to think in the now.
More than anything, the problem is being reactive. Thing “X” happens, and we need to address it. Never mind thing “Y” and thing “Z” that have also happened with or because of thing “X.” All focus is at “X.” Society goes after the symptom but ignores the overall disease.
COVID-19 doesn’t care about your social class, race, religion, nationality, gender, or what-have-you. It is a virus that we still do not fully understand. It will not just magically go away or stop infecting people. Until there is a viable vaccine or real cure precautions will be necessary.
Mindfulness of this opens you to take a more proactive approach. In this instance that means staying home more than gathering in public, wearing a mask when in stores and anywhere crowded, and maintaining at least six feet distance between one another.
Where does positivity come into this?
For all the negativity inherent in this situation, there ARE positives. Giving them focus and attention will help keep you calm, level, centered, and sane.
What are some of these positives?
- You are alive.
- If you are reading this, you have access to technology.
- There are people you love. People love you.
- You can make decisions about where you are, where you are going, and what you are doing.
- There are choices available to you.
- You can choose to complain or to seek and find actions to help.
- You are capable of seeing possibility and potential for bettering the world on the other side of this situation.
There are many other things that are positive. But all of them are personal. That’s because the feelings of positivity or negativity lie within you, your mindset, your headspace, your psyche.
When you practice mindfulness, you are practicing being conscious. That makes you present in the here-and-now. With your presence you can choose to keep reacting to life – or – take a more proactive stance.
It is impossible to be positive all the time. That’s not a bad thing – negativity can show you where change is needed. But since you cannot fight fire with fire – or negativity with negativity – the best tool in your arsenal is it’s opposite – positivity.
Now, more than ever, finding and/or creating positivity can help you help yourself. Once you are better able to find your center, your peace, and your mindset/headspace/psyche, you can help others to do the same.
When you work on being proactive and employing positivity you can help spread that. More positivity in the world can help us come out on the other side of this situation somewhere good – rather than somewhere borne of our worst fears.
Finding and/or creating positivity isn’t hard – but it does require action
Knowing that you can combat the deluge of negativity on your subconscious by employing mindfulness, you can prevent becoming overwhelmed and broken by the present situation. When you are mindful of your thoughts, feelings, and the intent of your actions, you can choose to be proactive, to make use of the little positives to build bigger and better – which ultimately empowers you.
When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that can spread to people around you. It can create a feedback loop of awareness and positivity.
As such, you can build more positive feelings and discover more reasons to feel positivity and gratitude. That can be the impetus to improve numerous aspects of your life for the better, help overcome the overwhelming negativity of the current situation, and generate yet more positivity and gratitude.
That can then spread to change the world for the better.
An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of immense positivity that can generate even more good energies – and that, like you, is always worthwhile.
This is the three-hundred and twenty-ninth entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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