Fruitful
Negativity
“Negation
is the mind's first freedom, yet a negative habit is fruitful only so
long as we exert ourselves to overcome it, adapt it to our needs;
once acquired it can imprison us.”
Emile
Cioran
If
you are a parent, do you remember at what age your child first said,
“No!” Pretty early—before the first birthday for sure. It may
have been said by pulling away, by kicking and screaming, by blocking
you with their hands, but we humans learn how to deny access pretty
darn quick—long before we learn to say, “Yes!”
As
a species, we are much better at describing what we don't like than
what we do. We are better equipped to criticize than praise. And, we
are apt to see one bad aspect of a person's behavior as indicative of
his/her inherent nature. Rather than look at the whole person and see
what we don't like about them as simply part of a complex
character, we are biased toward the negative. I can't say why this is
so, but it is almost universal, and the effect is a planet that is
skewed away from the positive.
Here
is a daily practice I learned of recently: At the end of the day,
before you fall asleep, think back over your day and recall (1) when
you've felt fear, (2) when you've been dishonest with yourself or
another, (3) when your ego has gotten the best of you, and you've
acted in ways you aren't proud of, (4) when you've felt resentment,
and, finally, and most importantly, (5) when you have felt gratitude,
and for what. It's a simple ten minute exercise that will, over time,
shift your level of awareness from without to within, from negative
to positive. It is one way to make negativity fruitful.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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