"Life is too short to spend in negativity. So I have made a conscious effort to not be where I don't want to be"
Hugh Dillon
Negativity is a tendency to look at the events in our life that we seem to dislike and interpret them as something "bad". This is usually a learned behavior and it is usually assimilated from our circle of influence (our parents, friends, teachers, etc...) we learn to judge things as bad when they seem to be opposite of what we like. for example we are taught that a rainy day is a "bad" day, a sunny day then becomes a "good" day. in reality there's no bad or good in any type of weather, a sunny day is just a sunny day; as much as a rainy day is only a rainy day, but since we are able to have more social activities when is sunny, we tend to label it as "good".
Negativity is a form of resistance. It is represented in 2 ways:
1- In a mental way: it becomes judgment of circumstances. which as we saw before, it's just based on personal interpretation.
2- In an emotional way: it is translated and represented as negative emotions (fear, anger, pain, etc...)
Judgment creates pain, which in turn is represented in negative behaviors (as a way to avoid pain) these can range from: overeating, shopping, drugs, alcohol, or creating drama. The more we dwell on the judgment of a certain event or circumstance, the more pain we create for ourselves.
There are only 2 choices in order to eliminate negativity:
1- We accept the reality of our circumstances as they are, we accept things as they are, without any type of mental label. A rainy day becomes just a rainy day. there's no emotional response at that time, we just do what needs to be done (carry an umbrella and postpone any outdoor activities) but no judgment is made, therefore, no negative emotions arise as a result.
2- We do what's in our power to change them. Of course, there are things we cannot change, in the example above we can't control the weather, only our response. but in some cases, let's say we don't like our job, or we are not happy with the relationship we are involved in, we have a choice. We can quit our line of work or end that relationship, therefore obtaining the same result. (we eliminate pain and cease to create drama)
We need to understand the difference between those things we can change and those we cannot change, then our only choice is to accept reality as it presents itself in our lives.
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