The Positivity of Common Ground
Finding common ground is an excellent way to develop pathways of positivity.
Do you like feeling negative? Does anyone actually prefer to feel angry, frustrated, sad, distressed, and unhappy? I know don’t…and based on an utterly unscientific analysis of my friends, I really think that, generally, nobody does.
The world is overflowing with various entities finding and creating divisions among people. Whether physical or not, pretty much all divisions among people are completely artificial.
Sure, there are different genders, skin colors, eye colors, body shapes, and other physical variables. Likewise, people have different ethics, religions, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, politics, and other made-up immaterial aspects.
While these differences can in many ways simply make everyone unique, all too often they get used to create deeper, wider, and harder-to-bridge divisions among people.
Why? Because that will disempower you. When you are disempowered you tend to look for means of empowerment. Because of the nature of society, that tends to be an external quest.
But real empowerment comes from within, not from without. When it is difficult to see this within yourself, one way to do so is to find common ground with like-minded people.
Sharing common ground
Many of the communities people form are based on common ground. There are things that members of the given group share, like beliefs, faith, ethics, and the like. Overall, this can be a good source of strength, because it gives you someone to turn to when you need support or assistance who is likely to understand you.
This ceases to be good when that community starts fostering unkind intent. This is where religion, for example, tends to go wrong. You begin with a great idea and shared qualities, but then you start to get exclusionary and close people out who are different. This, in turn, actually disempowers you as an individual, in the name of the group normal.
Balancing what you get from those whom you share common ground with your own self is important. Nobody but you is inside your own head. As such, nobody else can be mindful for you, because awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and intent of action belongs solely to you.
Still, there is information in the world that you don’t know. One place to gain more is with those whom you share common ground with. Even though you all think and feeling differently, the commonalities between you provide a bridge of connection that can be used in numerous positive ways.
Human connection is way beyond physical
Even the most introverted people I know need to connect with other people from time to time. One of the best places for these connections is among those with whom you share common ground. Because of the things you share, material or immaterial or both, you are able to communicate in a way that you all understand.
I have been doing medieval reenactment for 28 years now. With the many people I have met playing this game from across the world, I have gained not just amazing friends, but lots of like-minded people who stand on common ground with me.
When my own family doesn’t always get me, the people in the reenactment group, for the most part, do. That common ground is a great source of comfort.
While I am the only one inside my head, thinking and feeling like and how I do, those on common ground with me share some aspects of the how of my thinking and feeling. With that, this gives me a place to turn where I can find understanding, and get assistance and support as I take my life on the paths of my choosing.
Finding common ground with people in your life is an excellent way to develop pathways of positivity.
Finding positivity is not hard, but it does require intentional action
Knowing that you stand on common ground with other people, you have a resource at your disposal to seek understanding and assistance as you do the things you do for your life. When you know that you have people who get you and who you can bounce ideas and information off of, that ultimately empowers you. When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that tends to spread to other people around you.
As such, you can build more positive feelings and discover more things to feel positivity and gratitude.
Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of positivity that begets even more good energies – and that, like you, is always worthwhile.
This is the two-hundred and ninety-eighth 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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