Not long ago I was driving to work with K-Love radio on when the commentators started talking about the negativity of this world. Although the discussion was brief (about two minutes long), it still had me thinking so deeply that I decided to share my views on the subject.
Many of us have heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” It’s the notion that not everything we consume is good for us. So it’s important to eat good food in order to be healthy. The same can be said when it comes to feeding our mind, “You are what you think.” With so many bad, upsetting, and scary things constantly happening all around the world (whether it’s on TV, social media or from friends and family), it’s really hard to focus on the positive all the time. But for reasons I find difficult to explain, it’s very easy to let ourselves get aligned with negative thoughts.
What we allow into our mind—be it good or bad—has a direct influence on the way we experience life. In other words what we nurture the most will keep growing to eventually become our reality. The more we focus on the negative, the more it will define who and what we are… more than likely someone who is controlled by anxiety, fear, and unrest. I doubt this is the kind of life any of us wants.
Personally I believe, even in the midst of all the negativity, there’s still a great deal of positivity and goodness in this world. I make it a point to remind myself of that every day because I find this is the only way for me to worry less about things I cannot control and focus more on what I can control, like creating my own happiness. Worry will always be there, and believe it or not it has its purpose in life, so why not find ways to coexist with it? Let me explain.
I’m not saying we should live in complete denial or bury our heads in the sand like ostriches do. That’s just reckless and we will be setting ourselves up for some huge disappointments. In the contrary, for our own sake we must stay alert, connected and be well informed on what’s going on in the world. How else would we know how to carefully and effectively navigate through it? What I’m saying is we should not live in such a constant state of worry that we let the happenings of this world dictate how we experience life. If we do, it will end up hindering our well being and even spill over to the people around us. We should find what contributes to our balance instead, make it our reality and do our best to stay grounded in that reality.
Control What You Can
From both individual and mutual experiences we all know that worrying is a part of life. However, unlike some things in life we cannot control, we can certainly control how much of it we do. So many of the things we worry about we have absolutely no control over, yet we let them take over our thinking. Many of us have a hard time enjoying life because we let worry get in the way. Too much of worrying is bad indeed, but a healthy dose of it can actually be good for our growth and mental wellness. It has long been established that one of the best ways to approach life is to do everything is moderation. When managed right, worry can motivate us to push through and do better. It’s about using something negative to create something positive. You may not be able to control the reality of the world, but you can surely have some control over yours. And some of us may never realize it but our negative thinking is sometimes the only reason why we are living in a negative reality.
“Stop feeding myself the negativity of this world” means the following to me: While I remain aware of the occurrences of this world, I must take control of what I allow to get in and how I let it affect me. It’s about feeding my mind a healthy diet of positivity. I can do that by taking some of the energy away from what’s happening in the world, redirecting it back to me and making it serve MY purpose.
“Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action.” ~ Steve Marble
Love and Positivity,
Carli 🇭🇹