October is a new month. We’re now officially halfway through Spring and the weather has been pleasant, unless you’ve been in the South Island. Compared to last month this month is off to a ripper and that means my funk is over… or at least starting to wane.
This month I turn 49. I don’t do birthdays because of my religious beliefs but every year counts because if I’m honest I’m somewhat surprised I’ve made it this far. It’s not like I’ve babied my body.
In this day and age, you need to take the good when it comes. Bad seems to exist everywhere but good exists more so, it is however harder to notice it.
Take last month for example. For all examination it was a world of pain and suffering. Losing my brother in law to the Black Dog, losing a friend to the Big C, almost losing another friend to brain bleed, fighting a battle with the insurance company over a claim that’s lasted almost a year, it all seemed like crawling under a blanket and sleeping the month off would have been a good idea. Little wins during the month helped though.
If I only looked at the bad then I’d have missed the good that came out of the month. For example, because of my brother in law being agnostic, I felt sad that his funeral was so miserable. It never reflected the guy he actually was. But that funeral also cemented in me how important my beliefs are. He had no beliefs and as such had no hope for the future. Because of my Bible based beliefs, not only do I have a future, but I also can see myself easily in that future even though it hasn’t happened yet. As miserable as this life is, the Bible shows a future where all pain, misery, suffering, death, war, famine, crime, homelessness, etc will be GONE due to God’s Kingdom, a real government that will soon reign over earth.
Sure, it’s most likely that you won’t have the same beliefs as me and that matters not. What matters is that instead of dwelling on the bad things happening, I can see the good things happening all around me as well. I’ve been trained over a lifetime to be able to do so. And we all need to build this skill because dwelling on the misery destroys any hope and once hope is gone, we can do some drastic things.
If we reset our minds in order to seek out the good things then the world doesn’t seem so bleak. For the most part that’s what I try my hardest to do. I’ve always been optimistic, to the point that many might call me a dreamer, but I put it back to you that that’s down to your attitude.
Being a dreamer shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. It’s those devoid of imagination that look down on dreamers, but dreamers have literally changed the world. Listening to those without imagination has changed the world for the worst.
Someone had to dream up the idea of flying like the birds. Humanity achieved that but not by scientists. Isn’t that interesting? A farmer in Invercargill, New Zealand (Richard Pearse) and a couple of bike mechanics (Wilbur and Orville Wright) were the first people in the world to fly when all the scientists said it was impossible. In the case of Richard Pearse ALL the people (including his family) mocked him, and none ever recognised his efforts despite the fact he flew twice as far as the Wright Brothers and BEFORE them. He crashed into a boxthorn hedge and even he felt he hadn’t achieved flight because he lost control. But he had literally flown further than anyone on the planet had ever done at that time.
Imagine a world where his friends and family had encouraged him and supported him despite his “failure”.
You might have heard that New Zealand is full of really nice and welcoming people. What you don’t hear about is the worst trait NZ has… Tall Poppy Syndrome. This is where they support someone until they become big and then they do their best to try and destroy that person. This is nothing new of course. We just tend to do it so much better.
There are other examples. Remember when Apple was the darling of the tech industry? Almost bankrupt then Steve Jobs returns after having been booted from Apple. He then proceeds to get rid of failing projects and introduces the world to the colourful iMac range and the fortunes of Apple turned. As soon as Apple became big the tech world went from admiring what Apple had done to hating it and spreading lies and misinformation which carries on today. Despite the fact that Apple is literally changing the tech world by showing how the tech should be done rather than rushing to market.
We love to hate people and corporations. But what if we supported those that are doing well or have great ideas? By supporting people instead of distrusting them, we can encourage them to do good. Sure, if they’re on the wrong track then redirect them but don’t pull them down. All that does is make you seem petty and small.
But by encouraging others we get encouraged and it becomes cyclical. By seeing the good in others, they show us the good in us. This then encourages both of us to be better and do more good for others and the cycle continues.
If we focus on the negative, we become negative. If we focus on the good, then we become good. It comes down to us and how we CHOOSE to see the world. That’s right, it’s a choice, even if we have clinical depression for example, we can still change our viewpoints. It’s not easy to do so, that’s for sure, but it can be done.
Positivity breeds positivity. People want to shy away from negative people which ends up in a major spiral of doom because the Negative Nellies whinge and moan and this turns people off them. This in turn makes the Negative Nellies more negative and down they go.
We have to change our viewpoints for the better. I’m not saying we need to use positivity to cure us, there’s always going to be negative things happening. But how will we view those negative things? Are we going to let them bring us down or are we going to see them as opportunities to turn those lemons into lemonade as they say?
Hate is on the rise. We see it everywhere. But do you notice the love that is everywhere as well? War is the ultimate act of hate, but do you see the humanity when soldiers of opposing forces can put their differences aside for a moment and help each other because it’s the human thing to do?
Why is it so hard for us to see the good in this world? The answer is simple. That’s how we CHOOSE to see the world. Everything rests with us to CHOOSE to change that view and start to see the good in this world. Society in general will be better if we see the good in people and we help people instead of hate them. That’s a choice. That choice is on us.