Positivity: Community

Community is an amazing concept.

Community can mean so many things. It can be as small as your family and as large as the nation you call home. It can include an identifying factor which can help you explain to others how you view life and the world around you.

But community is really all about those whom you are closest to. Community in the sense I write of here is the group of people who have your back, who will lend you a hand when you need it, who will help when you are hurting or in some way in need of comfort, validation or assistance.

For example – I know a township that suffered a pretty devastating flood. But rather then fall apart, the people of that town came together from every aspect of the community, whether they were citizens, municipal employees or business owners. They worked together to bring everything back together and to restore the town to be even better than it was before the flood.

Another example – I belong to an organization where people who don’t even know you will offer a ride, open their home and lend you a hand with whatever you need, just because. We all practice the same hobby and all have the same historical sensibilities, but beyond that we span a vast swath of more mundane communities.

Community has often gotten lost in broader definitions like nationalities and religions and such, but in its smaller form it is people whom you both help and will be helped by in both need and plenty, and all for the greater good.

Our sense of community is sometimes misdirected, sometimes trapped in exclusionary ideas and practices. We do not need to keep others out for our communities to be strong. When we act together to improve our lives, we all get net benefit results. When we are part of an open and welcoming community, we are part of a great generator of positivity. But when we are part of a closed community, shunning others and spewing hatred and distrust, we are generating negativity.

Community to build positivity is beneficial to everyone it touches. You are probably already a part of a community that strengthens you. Take comfort and happiness in that, and let it build positivity.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we can be a part of a community that will help accept us and help us and let us provide assistance as well can generate vast amounts of positivity. When we take part in growing good communities, we work together to take our focus off of negative things, so we can focus instead on positive ones. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

This is the fifty-first 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.