Negative Nelly or Positive Polly? My choice

Ever feel caught up in negative thinking and don't know what to do about it? On the weekend I was reminded how easy it is for us to slip into negative thinking and spiral down into that place of gloom and doom. Thinking negatively is just an unhelpful habit and as we know, we can thankfully change the way we think and put a new helpful habit in its place. Of course awareness is the key, we need to be mindful of this unhelpful negative thinking habit and want to change it into a more helpful and happy way to think and be.  

A person I met on the weekend was a beautiful reminder of how destructive this habit of negative thinking can be .  And how it is tricky to be around someone who is in the habit of thinking negatively. Rather than be negative ourselves with blame and criticism we can see them as a beautiful reminder to be the change we want to see and to be more positive ourselves, and compassionate to them and their unhelpful way of thinking. Often times we do not want to be reminded about such behaviour and attempting to tell the person to 'stop being so negative and focus on the positive' can inflame the situation.  A kind, positive, playful response may be what is needed.  I watched one of my friends skilfully and playfully deal with the situation.  She said in a kind, way "come on negative Nelly, lets find Positive Polly in there." The situation lightened up and we were all able to have a bit of a laugh.

We can all be in that unhelpful spot.  But with awareness we can also get ourselves out of it too.  We are not pretending there aren't any difficulties - certainly things can be tricky at times.  But we are making a choice about how we respond when things don't go as planned.  So my 'positive Polly' friend saw my 'negative Nelly' friend as a reminder not  to let negativity take over.  There was no need to be negative or critical back but rather to have compassion for this unhelpful habit and playfully remind all that 'positive Polly' can be a choice.  Gandhi reminds us that "we must be the change we want to see in the world."  so if we want to see a positive us and our world we need to find the positives in ourselves and others and change ourselves and our world for the better.   

Maree xx