HELP! I'm Surrounded By Negativity
Do you ever feel like everywhere you turn there's negativity lingering? It seems like as soon as you decide to make the shift and start living more mindfully, the Universe tests you by throwing all of this nonsense your way. At least that's what tends to happen to me!
There is negativity everywhere - TV, radio, the people we surround ourselves with, the tabloids that haunt us in the checkout lines of grocery stores. It's like the world is wanting us to fall into negativity.
Negativity is definitely a trap - one you don't want to get sucked into! It's easier to follow what's around us and just shy away from creating our own light - but does that serve you? Because it hasn't served me.
I'm not a huge TV watcher, but my negativity tests seem to come in the forms of people. I've worked at several locations where negativity is surrounding me like a huge brick wall. It's daunting and so hard to not fall into. Coworkers had nothing positive to say and complained about the silliest things that didn't even need to be brought up. There was no sense of positivity or light anywhere around me.
That's when I learned a very valuable lesson -
You need to create your own light.
When you're surrounded by negativity coming at you from all angles, the only thing you can do to escape is to be the light in your own life. You need to develop your own positivity and distractions that keep you from joining the crowds.
Perspective.
noun: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.
You may be thinking to yourself, "I'm too far sucked in to ever get out and create my own positivity." Wrong.
This is where perspective comes into play. Your perspective on your current situation will be what makes or breaks you. If you choose to remain a victim of the negativity that surrounds you, that is where you will stay. If you shift your perspective to see the negativity as something that encourages you to be a lighter person, your life will dramatically alter.
Easier said than done, I know.
But perspective is huge in the mindfulness movement as a whole. The way you see your situation has everything to do with your desires as an individual and nothing at all to do with those around you.
My coworker situation is something I can't change. I can't morph these women into free-spirited, mindful beings filled with all of this light, love and positivity. What I can control is the way that I view my situation.
I don't want to become one of the negative Nellies, so I'm choosing to view my sitch as a lesson to aid in teaching what I do want to become. I want to be a positive person that speaks about things that are relevant to my life and intentional to my purpose. So I'm taking this lesson day by day and doing my absolute best to only engage in conversations that are serving my soul in some way. Otherwise, you can find me with my headphones in and listening to some woo woo podcast that is totally making my soul jive.
Moral of the story - you control how you let the negativity affect you, but you can't control the negativity itself. Unfollow that girl on IG that never has anything nice to say. Stop watching that trash TV show that gives you crazy anxiety just thinking about all of the drama that is involved. Get some tunnel vision while going through the lines at markets so that you don't have to view the tabloids and trash talking that is blasted all over the front covers.
You are in control of how you react, respond and absorb these circumstances around you.
What will you do to shift your perspective?
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