She sat staring out over an expanse of bright, blue skies and lapping waves, with the wind gently ruffling her brown tresses. The wind picked up her lightweight, see-through scarf, and she felt its softness brush against her check.
Aren’t words amazing? Blue skies, lapping waves, ruffled hair…and suddenly you’re in another place, experiencing the same thing. You are the person looking at the rolling waves and feeling a scarf tickle your face. Amazing. Our brains, our thoughts – awesome. And how did that scene affect you? Did it make you feel peaceful?
Let’s try another one: a man is hanging from the edge of a brick building, his body bending as if to trying to cling to the hard surface. The roughness of the hard, porous cement ledge is eating into his flesh as his hands strive to hold all his weight. He feels his hands slip a little…
(Are you pulling in your stomach muscles and arching your back with him, lol?)
In this scenario, it doesn’t matter if it’s sunny or cloudy or how tall the building is or any of the usual outward descriptions – our brains fill in a lot of this (mine made it cloudy – interesting). The man is clearly hanging on for his life, and we are immediately with him, as if it were us. We know it must be a deadly situation, and we want to know if there will be an escape. How do you feel now? Anxious?
Words. Brains. Amazing.
(By the way, I’m a “the glass is half full” kind of gal – in the second scene, I have to make the scene continue in my head, and I see, not one, but two, sets of hands grab the man and he is raised to safety. A little scratched up, but safe. Do you feel better now?)
What do you think of all day? Stressful things or calming things? Or a bit of both? A healthy balance is always good…up to a point. Keeping us on our toes, but not all stressed out. Try purposefully thinking about quiet, peaceful things or listening to peaceful music for one whole day and see if it makes your day better. Some of us may find this really hard, but keep striving for it, and you may be surprised – healthy habits make healthy lives. Yes, there are things we have to deal with that can be stressful, and we can’t just stick our heads in the sand; but with a calm heart it is easier to handle them – less stressfully. Who wants to aid the stress we do have deal with? It’s been proven that stress is horrific on the body. Why add to it by bombarding ourselves with negative exposure all day long? Be at peace. Expose yourself every day to lots of things funny, lighthearted, calming, joyful, peaceful… You get the "picture".
Positively Negative or Negatively Positive? The title to this blog jumped out at me about half way through writing it, and when rereading it (up to the prior paragraph), I thought, "The first part of the title makes sense - a very negative way to be - but the second part - well, what the heck does negatively positive mean?" So I googled it. The meaning of Negative-Positive is: “Relating to…a photographic process, device, etc…., or employing negative film to produce a positive image (or vice versa).” [Oxford Dictionary]. If we employed this tactic, (employing negative to produce a positive) in our lives, we could take anything negative and make it positive. I’m suggesting this in our behavior patterns or choices, not in photographic processes. We don’t want to bury the negative in our lives or hearts to produce a positive outward image, but rather to produce a positive result, especially within ourselves. What can we turn around in our lives to ultimately have a good effect? What good can we create out of the mess we’re looking at? There are no difficulties, only opportunities! Positive thinking creates positive results. Woohoo! Let’s do it! Let's create rainbows in the clouds in our hearts and shine!
Next week sneak peek: “Fact or Fiction – Are Unicorns Real?” I think this one's going to be fun...
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