Unleashing the Power of Positivity

Sometimes the smallest statements made in passing can have the biggest impact. One of my favorite blogger friends mentioned in a comment that when she talks about work at home that it is normally positive…She meant no disrespect at all. Her overall message was extremely positive. But I thought to myself, am I a positive person? Have I lost that girl in my journey of self improvement?

And I read about where someone else was using the month of February to stop complaining. And I thought to myself again, can I go an entire day without complaining?

And I tried it. I did NOT nail it!

So I made a decision to try to bring back that girl – to find her again. Perhaps I accidentally threw her out when I de-cluttered, so I started looking through giveaway piles. I am determined that she must stay – permanently.

I am only on day 3, but I already see her shining through. It is not a perfect process, but no process is ever really perfect, only custom made for specific individuals. However, the power of positive thinking has unleashed some other powers which have already begun to change my life for the better.

1. The Power of Laughter.  I spend larger parts of my day laughing. Sometimes that laughter is masked in sarcasm. Other times the laughter is clothed in silliness.  Whichever extreme, strong smiles warm the heart. They lighten the mood, uplift the atmosphere.  They steal the seriousness of sad moments.  My students hate when I make them laugh while they try to stay mad at me.  Friends loathe when I make them laugh while they are trying to cry.  Laughter cures ills even if only temporarily.

2. The Power of Letting Go.  I take life a little less seriously. I let God handle a lot of things I used to try to control myself.  I step back and examine the bigger picture. Sometimes I do not always recognize the weight I carry, the day to day cares that press down.  The to-dos. The to-don’ts. The must-haves and the do-not-haves. The wants. The wishes. The goals I set and demolish. The goals I set and give up.  I still have all these things. They are still fully integrated into my life, but my life does not revolve around them. My days are okay with or without them. My ordinary is extraordinary.

3. The Power of Standing Still. Most of my “non-complaining” comes from not adding to the complaints of others. Every conversation does not require my input. Everything is not broken. Everyone is not broken…I cannot fix it all…Some things can stand on their own. They do not require my voice. They, instead, demand my silence. I have become so accustomed to change, to moving, to transition, that I forgot what God’s voice sounds like when He is telling me to stay, take a seat or two or several. “Your assignment has arrived and you will be here for a while.  Your movement is getting in my way. You cannot simultaneously hear my voice while yapping away with your own. Stand still!”

…I finished my first ever 10k today. I ran a pace faster than I have ever practiced. I can only run on weekends. As a result, most of my during the week “runs” are 45 minutes to an hour of whatever YouTube cardio I picked out for the day…My body, however, has a muscle memory.  While it was not conditioned to run, it understood how to apply what I had been practicing all week for weeks at a time to the race I had to run today.

The same works for positivity. It does not look the same as it did when I was 20. Life has created circumstances that apply it differently…

I almost did not recognize the track at the finish line, the same track I practiced on in high school, the same track where my summer track team practices twice a week. All the decorations made it look different. But home is home. And I smiled when I stepped on that familiar surface – white lines on a red mondo, jump pits, high jump mats, and throwing rings…

As I welcome back my positive mindset, I know I must look a little different. Time has changed me up just enough to where I am almost unrecognizable. Then I started laughing, and letting go, and standing still, and positivity knew she was in the right place. And she smiled. And she took a seat. And she was glad to be back home.

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Do you know any other power that comes from positivity?

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