Reverse Your Negativity For Fun, Joy, And Valuable Prizes!

Deb: In this very New Year I find myself weary of those around me who just seem to spend their time complaining and negatizing! (I might have invented that word, what do you think?)

I need to be clear that I am not weary of people who have the right to complain about sickness or sadness or tragedy. What I am weary of is the “everything presented to you has a down side” kind of complaining. And the “everyone needs to be reviewed and put down” kind of negativity. I am, frankly, sick to death of it. I have pulled away from the sources of this ugliness to such a degree as I am able. I have backed away from the human sources and computer sources. I find I have no strength for that vibe right now, be it over a coffee with someone face-to-face, or on Facebook, sitting in my bathrobe, viewing the spewing. And I take full responsibility for the part I play in any of this energy and pledge to eradicate it.  Barbara Radecki, the lovely, the talented, my partner in crime and my darling friend is the perfect example of someone who is always positive, always supportive. This energy is what I want in my life all the time. And I will have it. I will accept no substitutes!

Our darling friend, Sean’a, who is a valued and beloved friend to all our Middle Ages Followers, tired of this negatory trend many moons ago and tried something that I am going to follow through on myself. She and her husband discovered a technique that inspired them and which really taught them a shocking lesson I think. I think many or all of us might be shocked by its results. The idea was always compelling to me but only now do I feel that I want to challenge myself to this.  It involves putting several homemade pull-string bracelets on your wrist and with each complaint or negative statement that you make, you switch the bracelet to your other wrist, indicating by days end just how many negative vibes you are filling your day with. Brilliant and simple, don’t you think? I am probably very late to this concept, but what the hell? If something teaches us a lesson, it doesn’t matter when we learn it, right? If you are at all interested, I urge you to try it for fun! Maybe we will all learn something about ourselves and the patterns we all fall into. I think the real surprises may come in not the big complaints but the throw away every day, “Geeze, it’s raining again” kind of complaints.  So I am going to try this lovely experiment and I will attempt to learn from it. I can’t control the negativity aimed at me or around me, other than removing myself from it, but I can control my own negativity. Heeeerrrrrreeeee goes!!! Sean’a you continue to inspire me. Have I said that lately? Xo

Barbara: Oh, oh, oh, how I love this. I do think I’d heard tell of this ingenious little trick a ways back, but I’d forgotten all about it. And I deeply thank you for giving me such lovely credit for my positivity, but make no mistake, I do succumb to the easier wearier way down into drearier negativity. And it is insidious! You almost don’t notice until you notice how people react: you’ve just passed on another downer (and fundamentally useless) bit of information, you’ve added to that negative conversation (thereby spurring it further), you’ve gotten into a snarky, nosy, grumpy rut and people are either playing along like a gang of ruffians, or ignoring you because they’re not down there with you. And then whoa, you realize, Man, I feel like crap, maybe it’s time to shift gears and reach up instead of falling down.

I have one of those pull-string bracelets. I’m gonna get some more. Thanks, Sean’a, brilliant!