Staying positive in a negative world

A student of mine once asked me to look at a website that provided definitions of words and asked me if I noticed a trend with what the first definition was. I looked up a number of words and saw what he was seeing, each of the initial definitions was negative. All of the words I looked up had a negative connotation to it even if that was the least used definition of a word. Look at the synonyms and it was the same thing. The first synonym given for "try" was "inconvenience". in fact the 7 synonyms given all had somewhat negative connotations to them, and the word "attempt" was not listed. A primary definition for endeavor was about exerting oneself...it wasn't until the 3rd definition that it was more positive and about gaining.

I reflected on this today, mostly after the reflections I've been making this week in regards to focusing on me. I try to be a positive person and believe that positivity reeds positivity. That is not always what I seem to be experiencing though. I made another step to increase my positive attitude and outlook on life by taking a break from something that has become quite a drain on me...facebook. That's right, I said it...the fb has become a drain on me. I took a break starting Monday morning, and already I can feel it's positive affect on me. What was funny was I went on there today to turn off a notification filter (didn't want my phone lighting up anymore) and scrolled through for a moment, not to comment, just to observe. I found that with a few exceptions, most posts were negative. The people I have showing up on my feed were all complaining about something or another.

It's no wonder it's hard to stay so positive...we've created a world in which it's so easy to gripe to everyone, it's hard to know what's really going on in people's lives. We're also incredibly connected to one another, but in a voyeuristic type of way...and we only get to see the part that people are willing to share, which honestly seems to be quite negative. I admit that I was doing this too...it's so easy to just complain a one liner on there and try to let it go...the problem is, the more we do that, the more we spread that negative energy around and can affect others.

I want to try to take a stand against this negativity and work on spreading my positivity! Though I'm going to remain off the fb I am going to in my real life spread positivity. I'm going to say kind words and mean them to people that I see. I am going to believe in the kind words that others say to me. I am going to shield myself from the negative stuff and encourage and spread the positive stuff.

I do wonder what other correlations I might be able to find...and perhaps even be able to make a difference. So have a wonderful day reader of this blog. Remember that even in your darkest moments, there is always a happy memory that you can grasp at. For those of you with four-legged kids, just look at your dog or cat or turtle...I know that my four-legged kids always can get a smile. For those of you with the two-legged kids, look at all the goodness you have been able to bring up into the world!

So enjoy my lil guys and bring a smile to your face!