"Your mind can only hold one thought at a time and there's nothing at all to be gained from being negative, so be positive." That's a rough quote from Earl Nightengale. I've been listening to his stuff on Youtube as suggested by that paradigm shift book. I've been hearing about positive thinking pretty much my entire life...as have you. The problem is, we're surrounded by negativity.
Here's a question...if there's nothing to be gained from being negative, why is it an option in our minds? Why does it feel easier? Being positive feels like your constantly struggling against it. Kind of like when your car is out of alignment. You want to just ease the grip on the wheel but it's constantly pulling to the right. Wait a minute...does that mean that if I just get my alignment fixed, being positive won't feel like a struggle? And does that also mean that there are people out there that DON'T struggle with being positive? Maybe negativity is just an excuse to be lazy. But then, how would we have survived as a species if we were constantly negative and lazy? I'm willing to bet that negativity was part of our evolution...but why? The most interesting part of this paradigm shifting is becoming aware of your paradigm. It seems the paradigm is sneaky and just wants you to stay as you are. An interesting note here is that I'm generally a positive person. I'm a generally happy and excitable person. I'm social and like to think, a pretty fun guy to be around...so what's with the negativity lurking around up there? Maybe it has to be there in order to have balance. How can a person be positive all of the time? I'm a firm believer in finding a silver lining and turning that frown upside down but sometimes your dad dies or your spouse or, God forbid, your child. These things happen and overwhelming sadness and negativity about life is going to be the result but I suppose that's where our belief in something more beyond this realm kicks in. I guess if you don't believe in something more, you just sit around and mope.
All of that said, I can't help but wonder if the Donner party stayed positive throughout their ordeal.
