An article appeared in The Daily Mail today, entitled "Positive Thinking is Positively Bad For You so Always Look on The Glum Side of Life" by Virginia Ironside. This made me positively chuckle for some reason! Seriously though, I have lived by the maxim "Alway's Look on The Bright Side of Life" so was intrigued to read this article as I enjoy hearing different points of view to my own. You can read the article online by clicking here.
I would say that positive thinking has improved my life experience, as have self-help books, etc. But that is because I have adopted the belief that my life is better for these things, and as that belief has become embedded, I see more and more evidence that it is true for me. But there is no absolute truth in this as others, like Ms Ironside prove. If you believe the opposite, you will also find a weight of evidence to support your belief and so that becomes true for you.
I love it that there is just one life, totally neutral, expressing itself as all of us in individual form. And for every individual there is a unique perspective on life's events. This gives life it's richness and apparent diversity.
I have always chosen the optimistic view whenever I could because that was my natural tendency, and I have nurtured that tendency and strengthened it through education and choice. That is not to say that there haven't been times where I felt so bad that it took a fair time for me to turn around or move on. I don't think a superficial positivity is helpful if you are just masking some important negative feelings that are still there. So in that respect I think it helps (for me) to really accept those feelings and let them guide me and then they tend to release. Perhaps that is being "realistic".
In the Abraham-Hicks material, which resonates with my point of view, they totally reject the argument that we should be realistic. They say that if we focus on "what is", we get more of it. So being "realistic" from this viewpoint is not helpful in a situation that we want to move away from. They do also say, though, that we should start where we are and aknowledge it, then we can move toward what we want.
I think to many people, being realistic means facing facts. What are facts exactly? What is the factual meaning of something? There isn't one, because it is all a matter of interpretation and perspective. It may be a fact that we have received a diagnosis that we don't want, but even that can be wrong. And with that event, there are many standpoints on what it means for the individual and how to approach the situation. And this is where we take a simple experience and dress it in whatever clothes we choose.
I choose a positive or neutral outlook whenever I can. I love it that I have that choice and, if I want to take a trip to the glum side of life one afternoon, that will be okay too!
Comments