positivity

I notice there's a tendency in me and in society to avoid the deep and dark places. We are uncomfortable with displays of depression and despair.

The other day, a friend posted on Facebook that she felt depressed and the majority of her friends said, “Are you getting help? Are you taking medication?” I'm not saying people shouldn't take meds and shouldn't seek help, but it's interesting to notice their reactions. How quickly people turned to solutions instead of saying, “I hear you,” or “Me too.”

The meeting of human potential is crucial to the survival and proliferation of our species, and we partake in this movement through optimizing our state of perception as individuals.

The manner in which we rightly impact society directly correlates to the extent to which we move towards the fulfilling of our own potential. In other words, to elicit our “best selves” is to make the world a better place.

How might we accomplish this? How might we step into the realm of our own potentiality?

The other day, a monk from my yoga and meditation group posted a Facebook live video about remaining unperturbed in the face of external stimuli. His comment struck me primarily because I’m not unperturbed. I’m disturbed by every little thing. When the news is bad, I feel bad. When the news is good, I feel good. My mood of late seems to be tied to what’s going on in the world. This is not how I want to live.

My last year in college I ran to my school’s mental health clinic because I couldn’t contain the anguish. Perhaps it was the fact that there were no jobs available and I was freaking out about my loans, or the fact that I was having a tough time keeping up with my bills even though I seemed to cut every corner and flat-out refused to have any extraneous fun on most days. I did, however, have a history of depression as a child and the school’s counselor gave me some good tips.

Want to be a happier person on the whole? Try making your mornings more positive, one step at a time, to get rid of the negativity first. The unhappiness will find its own way out soon…

A few weeks ago I listened to a radio show by Radleigh Valentine and he said on average, people laugh 15 times a day. Fifteen times! And then he asked, “Do you remember if you laughed at all yesterday?” He pointed out it’s easy to remember the unpleasant things – the times we’re sad or scared or anxious – but the joyful times, the laughing times, are easier to forget. He encouraged his listeners to take note of when they laugh, to see if it adds up to 15 times. And then he said something really interesting: Plan for joy.

With a farewell to all that is 2016, it’s time to give a warm welcome to 2017. What better way to embrace the New Year than with a New Year’s resolution? Whether you’re looking to shed those extra pounds you’ve been carrying around, or kick that nicotine addiction, now is the time to do it. Truthfully, I haven’t even bothered with New Year’s resolutions, or Lent (oops), lately, but that’s about to change.

Gratitude happens when you feel an appreciation, happiness, or gratefulness towards something or someone. But did you know that it is one of the most powerful feelings you can ever have? When you have gratitude not only are you able to open up new possibilities in your life, but you can also change your life for the better. There is definitely power in the attitude of gratitude.

Unless you’re a Disney character, being positive all of the time can prove difficult. We live in a time where we are constantly running around, on limited time, limited sleep, and limited self-care. We are bombarded with negative news, negative television, negative people and negative vibes. We are facing too many global crises to comprehend. Through all of this, however, people are remaining positive. How so?

Vision boards were big in 2009 - partly due to Tyra Banks’ adoration of the idea, and partly due to lingering effects of “The Secret,” the idea to put your hopes and dreams into the universe was big business. Regardless of your own ideas about positive thought, it’s certainly better than being a pessimist. Creating a visual representation of your goals is a fun way to help you visualize success and can still be a great practice today.