People often feel powerless to make a difference in the world.
Maybe that's not surprising: You look around, and the media is filled with disasters, death, tragedy and mayhem. We try to find something to cling onto to help us stay positive, but sometimes that seems almost impossible, in an ocean of negativity.
Part of the central credo of the White Light Express is the power of POSITIVE focused intention.
Evening light
Along with the many prayer requests we receive every month, there are inevitable questions. People have doubts. "How can I stay positive about my life when I am facing unemployment and the electricity is about to be cut off?"
Some will argue that "staying positive" when everything is falling apart is akin to being out of touch with reality; to being a Pollyanna; to ignoring serious problems by painting them over with positive words.
We certainly never advocate "glossing over" real problems with positive affirmations. That misses the point.
Life is filled with tragedies and setbacks — that's not in question. And it's not even a choice! Bad things happen to all of us.
Find your direction...
Where we have a choice, however, is in how we respond to situations.
When aforesaid unemployment strikes, do we choose to dwell in a pit of our own misery? Or do we choose to say "Wow, this is really awful! How can I make the most of a really bad situation?" and then actively work towards a positive way out.
Skeptics often argue that attitude towards a problem does nothing to solve that problem.
Not true.
We tend to get exactly what we focus on. The human mind has an uncanny knack for seeking out "proof" of the reality we're putting our energy into; the reality we are invested in. In simple psychological terms, it's our "confirmation bias" at work. Whereas we might consider ourselves "evolved" and "conscious" and "above" such things, fact remains that we just don't like to be wrong.
Getting back to the unemployment example, if we're invested in the reality that "there are no jobs and I am doomed," we will find "proof" that it's true. We'll be poring over reports of unemployment numbers, and how many people have been unable to find work after six months, and how many managers now have to flip burgers for a living.
Meanwhile, a sort of "cognitive blindness" tunes out information about where there are new jobs; where there are opportunities.
One the other hand, we can choose to focus on "Things may be touch but there ARE new jobs every day!" Now, our cognitive efforts are scanning the "yes!" side of the equation, instead. The very same cognitive blindness now starts to filter out the negative messages as "not needed" and we're left over with the positive ones.
Find the light!
Does that magically "create" a new job for us?
Absolutely not!
Broken down to nuts and bolts: Let's arbitrarily say you're capable of processing 100 "relevant" messages a day from your environment. If you let 90 of them be about "a hopeless job market" and only 10 about "finding jobs" as compared 90 of them being about "finding jobs" and 10 being about "a hopeless job market," which do you think is more likely to result in a new job?
Staying positive is a choice, but it's also a practice. And so it may take a little practice to learn to stay "awake" and be aware when you are slipping into negativity.
However, with a positive outlook, you can really accomplish a LOT, even when life is difficult!
Bright Blessings!
You are not alone!
(Graphic is our own)
The White Light Express Mission Statement:
The mission of the White Light Express is to offer healing and transformation through focused positive intention, meditation and prayer. Right Thought is the first step toward Right Action and consciousness. We believe that “holding the vibration” is a profound task and our divine destiny.
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In addition to our blog here on Steemit, you can also find us on the White Light Express web site, on our Facebook Page and on our twitter feed.
Beautiful piece!
Life will present us with set-backs and unwanted circumstances, but our victory over them is dependent on how we respond to this challenging situations.
Staying positive in those times makes our victory easier, it's natural to want to grumble and be negative during difficult times but we have to make a decision to be positive. Indeed staying positive is a choice.
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I have upvoted and resteemed your post.
I hope this will enable more people visit your blog!
Thank you @kweenbrand, appreciate the kind words, and also thank you for the promotional plug!
Bright Blessings!
The news media needs to change. They sensationalize negativity.
Bad news gets a lot of exposure because the only journalistic truism "If it BLEEDS, it LEADS" still holds true. Or perhaps holds true more than ever.
Bright Blessings!
Very cute @steemeow! You're one of the very few bots I don't find annoying!
Living one's life in full is also a choice... and to live that, essentially gratitude has to be in the forefront of everything we do, on a minute to minute basis. Not easy, but all the rest just falls into place. It's quite simple, at my age, it wasn't always like this, believe me.
Great post. Have a wonderful rich weekend.
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