by Angela S. Young

Created on: June 19, 2007

Staying positive in a negative world takes a lot of work. It would be so easy to buckle under to the negative pressures pushing in on us everywhere. But I, for one, have determined that I do not want to become like the world. I want to rise above it and remain true to myself. The following are some ways you can fight the tendency toward negativity and remain a positive influence on those around you.

1. Smile. Smile a LOT. It's amazing how a smile pierces the darkness with a ray of light. Smiling will not only help you, it will send a message of hope to those with whom you share this gift.

2. Don't listen to negative people. Don't hang around with them on a regular basis. We tend to pick up characteristics of those we hang with on a regular basis. We don't want to totally shun the negative, but we do not want it to become our every day partner.

3. When you do come across negatively, make a joke out of it. It's amazing how you can change someone's attitude by giving them a new, humorous, take on the situation. Negative things happen, but they don't have to overwhelm us. We can fight back by keeping things in perspective with humor.

4. If you can't change it, and you can't, you might as well laugh as cry. One is great for your health and your attitude, and the other is not. So why not choose the healthy response and keep the negative effects of negative stress at bay?

5. If you must, don't watch the news or other things that can cause negative reactions. I personally prefer to listen and then do research to find the other side of the story. It helps keep me balanced.

6. Make a choice to stay positive. So many of us (because it's human nature) tend to let things fill us with fear. While a natural reaction, it makes us miss out on so much of life. Once burned, twice shy, may be our initial reaction, but by giving in to these feelings, we are allowing fear and negativity to rule our lives instead of allowing our choices to rule our lives.

One example I can use to press my point home is about love. My son seems to always date women who have 2 little girls. The first time I got close to the children of one of his girls, I fell in love. When the relationship went south, I was devastated, and hurt. When the next person came along, I was very tempted not to let myself love her children, knowing the pain that could be the result. However, I decided that I am the kind of person that loves children. I decided I was willing to risk the pain in order to have that love now, and, more importantly, to keep true to myself. It would have been easy to shut myself down until a marriage made it more sure, but I knew that would be shutting the door on the part of me that makes me a good teacher. I decided that I would not allow that. I choose to love anyone who comes my way even though there are risks.

This translates to negativity in that, we all have choices. We can let things get to us and build walls, or we can remain open and positive, adding a dash of humor and the light of a smile to keep ourselves positive in a negative world.

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