NO TO NEGATIVE AFFIRMATIONS!

When I was a child I had a teacher who always said “Can’t never did do anything.” Whenever I said “I can’t do_____”. As a child I didn’t realize then that negativity surrounds us and it affects us in many ways. Negativity can affect our health, our state of mind, our relationships, and our lives. As a spiritual advisor to so many people, I want to be certain that I lead my readers and followers to the positive in their lives. 


I know a young woman, 50, who has been  wheel chair bound by a rare neurological  disorder since she was 35. Prior to that  she was a happy, go lucky woman who  accepted her limitations as they were and  dared anyone to tell her she could not  have a normal life. She married, lived in  her own home, had friends, attended  college classes, and, basically, had a  normal life. She knew the disease was  progressive and that she would eventually  not be able to walk but she  didn’t let it define who she was. She had a  friend who was a devout Buddhist and she started to follow the beliefs and teachings herself. The monk became a special adviser to her and always applauded the manner in which she handled her life. Her husband and split up and he eventually committed suicide. She was devastated but did not allow it to destroy her. As her disease progressed, she learned that negativity would harm her more than anything else that could come into her life. She decided, on her own, to eliminate negativity from the outside world. She asked people not to bring petty disagreements into her home. She refused to gossip or listen to gossip. She refused to ask people to do things for her when she needed help. If no one offered, she did without. Her thinking, as she explained it to me, was this: “If I do not allow it to come across that threshold and into my house, it is not my problem. It will not affect me unless I INVITE it to come in and affect me.” She was right. 


Every day we invite negativity into our lives. We probably don’t realize that we ask this “cancer” to come into our worlds when we invite people to tell us what is going on in their everyday lives. Gossip is a form of negativity. Whether or not we participate in the gossip doesn’t matter. If we listen to it, we invite it in. Dwelling on “what if” is inviting negativity into our lives. “What if” does us no good. There is no way we can know what is in store for us in the future and wondering about it or obsessing about what we can do to make it one way or another is not a positive thing in our lives. We need to focus on the here and now and today. Only by doing our best every day can we assure that our lives will remain positive. 

Find a way to express your positive spirit. Paint, sign, write, and be kind to your neighbors. Practice random acts of kindness. Be the person that picks up a lady’s groceries if she spills them on the sidewalk. Ask your widowed neighbor if there is anything you can do for him or her. Just the offer to do something nice for someone can spark a sense of the positive that can spread all around your town. When someone says something negative about the government, it will serve you better to remember the positive about our country. We are the land of the brave and the home of the free. Our country is the one that everyone else aspires to come to. Vote your conscience and do not allow negativity to cloud your judgment. 

Spirituality is all about the world around us and the positive which should guide our lives. Negativity is synonymous with bad and it can mean many things to many people. Even if you are not a religious person, you should be a spiritual one. You should gird yourself with positive feelings and affirmations and act in a manner that will show others that to live your life as a brother or sister to your fellow man is an act that has no negativity and that it can only inspire good in others. 

We need to share our gifts and ourselves with others in a positive manner. We do not need a little slip of paper on our bathroom mirror to remind us that IF WE DO NOT INVITE IT INTO OUR LIVES, NEGATIVITY HAS NO PLACE WITH US.

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