A Spin on Bad News

I know that keeping up with the news is necessary in order to be an informed and functioning member of society, but it's just not something that I ever really enjoyed. I just never understood why the first thing that my dad wanted to do in the morning was hear about death, natural disasters, murders, and all the other negative things that are happening in our world.

On a similar note - I have very limited patience for people who are negative, spiteful, and full of self pity. No person alive is perfectly happy and everyone is allowed to be in a funk every once in a while, but having an overall hopeless attitude in life will not make things any easier for you or anyone around you for that matter.

Very naïvely I tried to live in a little bubble of positivity - ducking at any negativity that came my way.

I found this to be completely and utterly impossible no matter how hard I tried. The reason I called it a little bubble is because there is far more negative than positive in the world - granted the positive is always far more powerful. This realization really bothered me because I am a firm believer that your life is under your control and no one else's. I believe that "all that we are is the result of what we have thought" (Buddha) and that "your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions" (Einstein). If this was true - how could it be that I couldn't control everything that came my way?

Here's how I see it today:

 I may not intentionally focus my attention to negative people or events, but sometimes its inevitable and often even necessary to make you really appreciate the positive people and events you already have the pleasure to enjoy. When you are genuinely grateful for something you respectively get more of it because that's just how positive energy works.

Think about a time in your past that you really appreciated something. It can be as simple as appreciating a conversation with someone, and then later that day having another really great conversation. Maybe you were really grateful for a deal you got on something you've wanted for a while and then stumbled upon another steal. Or perhaps you even appreciated yourself for doing well on a task at work or an exam, and continued to perform up to your fullest potential. It can be theoretical or it could be materialistic. The more you are grateful for something, the more you receive of it.

Today I confront and accept the fact that we don't live in a world comprised of rainbows and unicorns. It's healthy for there to be conflicts and unfortunate events will occur in the world. Whenever I am faced with a negative situation I take it with a grain of salt and try to direct my thoughts to something or somebody who makes me happy. In doing so you literally transform something negative into even more of something positive and are able to exponentially enjoy all the beautiful things in life.