Positively Gorgeous!

One of the things I truly appreciate about having MS is that it taught me there is not enough time in the world, to indulge in negative thinking.  And an indulgence it is!

I am not talking about feeling depressed, that is something altogether different and something that should start with a trip to your doctor if feeling down goes longer than a few days.

I am talking about the kind of people that see the darker side of the equation every time, who prefer to be right about unpleasant happenings, than being right about the good stuff in life. Mostly it is not their fault, because “what you don’t know, you don’t know”.  They don’t know they are like this.

Think about your average office metrics.

We measure failure to reach goals and give it at a higher priority than celebrating success. We look at how many high severity problems we had, rather than how much time we had untroubled by issues. We spend all of our energy trying to minimise bad, without thinking about how much more engaging and pleasant it would be to spend that energy on increasing the good.

This negative environment gives the worker the message that it not only OK to be negative, but you need to be GOOD at being negative to get ahead…. what kind of crappy nonsense is that?!

If the office worked to improve to positive standards in the end the results will be exactly the same, but the mindset of those working to reach those targets, will be completely different.

How we think should be a conscious decision rather than a consequence of just existing. Living means taking an active part in molding who you are and how you think.

If you have read this far then I am going to hit you with this statement You are no longer permitted to be indulgently negative as you now know that this is a choice you are making.

I am not going to tell you to stop being negative, I am going to tell you to notice the times things are positive. When things are going well, pause for just a second or two and indulge in FEELING GOOD.  Smile and congratulate yourself that you remembered to do this, and think about other feel-good times.

It may feel weird in the beginning, and you may need to move the feelings from your right brain to the left by writing them down. However you get to be “in the moment” with that feeling is OK; pinch yourself to notice, count the smiles, list, record, count….but NOTICE!

Soon enough you will start applying those feelings to new events. Appreciation of others, gratitude in general, and being part of the whole, rather than an individual, will become more common in your daily routine. You don’t lose who you are, you expand to be more than that island battling against the odds.

You lose nothing by changing this mindset, but you gain so much