by Annie Kaycora

Created on: September 28, 2008

Yeah, how DO we focus on being positive when most of what surrounds us seems to be negative? I believe there are many goodies to share on this one!

Firstly, let's accept how difficult this actually is, considering how heavily engrained we all are in the word NO. From the time we were little tots, Mom & Pop said "NO!" "Don't do that!" "NO more!" and well, you get the idea. Commonly, when we are young and full of dreams and free from inhibition, we share some of our outrageous aspirations with friends, parents, etc. only to receive a big giant rejection rocket, aimed right for our forehead. "Mom I'm going to be the president of the United States!" Dad might have chuckled for a second, but likely said something negative or sarcastic like "Riiiight lil slugger..don't you think that's a bit much?" Believe it or not, that is a NO, and it is negative. So this has been going on for years. We are scared to believe, scared to dream, scared to want more, do more and be more, and it is all because of the negative views and attitudes that we have acquired over time.

Adolescence didn't speed up your recovery of a negative attitude either, as you are glued to the television, watching negativity on more channels than one, communicated in more ways than two! The media thrives on negativity, and basks in drama, conflict and trouble. I believe you should be a well informed citizen, but allowing your mind and soul to be filled with such useless negativity is toxic to say the least.

I believe step one is to understand that it IS in fact all around you, negativity that is. Understand this and learn to embrace it without letting it harm your spirit. (I will get into this shortly) Statistics won't be exact and are not completely verifiable; however, I would bet a few cookies jars on the likelihood that about 80% of people are actually quite negative. Put it to the test, find 10 people in your company, preferably on the same floor as you, or 10 neighbors, and tell them you have a HUGE business plan to make MILLIONS of dollars, that you invented an innovative way to peel oranges. I bet most of them will give you sarcasm, a condescending pat on the shoulder, a joke, or just good old fashioned booming laughter, and a couple will actually wish you luck and say something positive. That's life, so let's learn how to be more positive.

The journey to better thoughts is a rocky one, but it starts with awareness of thought. An exercise you might try would be to take a day and remember to listen

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