In recent years, the simple act of flipping on the evening news has become a challenging experience for those of us who strive to maintain a positive attitude. Just sitting there in your living room, watching one upsetting news story after another whether on the TV, your tablet, or a smartphone, can cause even the most optimistic person to become a bit jaded.
Of course, negativity doesn’t only emanate from screens. Exposing yourself to toxic people, those surly souls who find fault in everything around them – including you – can bring you down, too. If you aren’t careful to protect your personal boundaries, you can be drawn right into their negative orbit.
So, how do we remain positive and chipper in a chaotic world? How do we protect our own state of mind when we’re around those Negative Nellies? Let’s explore some positive actions that can help us navigate the doom and gloom we encounter out there.
How Negative People Can Affect Our Positive Mindset
Let’s address the “negative people” issue first, since unlike the depressing TV news that we can just turn off at will, it isn’t so easy to avoid negative people. But even if you work with someone who walks around with a storm cloud over their head all day, there are ways to protect yourself from being sucked into their dark vortex. Consider these actions:
- Kill them with kindness. Be the yin to their yang, the salt to their pepper. The most effective way to disarm someone who is giving off negative vibes is to counter it with a smile. Pay them a compliment when they criticize you. Mention the beautiful weather when they fixate on negatives. Be the bright light in their day, and then let it go.
- Limit your exposure. Sometimes, a grumpy person is bound and determined to marinate in that negative stew, and nothing you can do will change that. If that is the case, your best strategy is to distance yourself. Make a concerted effort to spend as little time as possible being exposed to that person’s negative energy.
- Don’t take it personally. Most of us are sensitive people who feel badly when someone is unkind to us or critical because we can’t help but take it personally. Instead of taking someone else’s bad attitude personally, realize that they are probably not even aware of how they come off to others. They may be going through a difficult chapter in their lives, so their behavior may have nothing to do with you.
5 Ways to Protect Our Positive Attitudes
Now let’s zoom out a bit to consider some other ways our joy can be hijacked by negativity, and what we can do about it:
- Limit news consumption. The daily news cycle, filled with a steady barrage of sensational headlines, seems designed to turn us all into news junkies. Resist! Being too immersed in political drama, conspiracy theories, or upsetting news stories is a recipe for negativity. Limit your news intake to an hour a day. Grab the headlines, and then focus on the positive things in your life.
- Spend time in meditation. The world is noisy and distracting, and often prevents us from focusing on the positive. One of the most effective strategies to tune out the negative and direct your thoughts towards positive goals and dreams is through meditation. Mindvalley Masterclass guides you toward accessing a higher state of consciousness and personal growth. Instead of allowing yourself to become a victim of negativity, you’ll learn how to shape the world according to your thoughts.
- Live in gratitude. Cultivating a grateful mindset takes practice. Be intentional about seeing the positive as you go through your day. Notice how that super friendly checker at the grocery store brightened your morning. Note the kindness of a stranger you interacted with at the post office. Soak up the sheer beauty of a spring day. Look for reasons to be grateful and you will find them.
- Surround yourself with beauty. Create your own safe haven, a space that negativity cannot penetrate. Whether it is an office, a home, or a garden, design a place of serenity that feeds your soul. Include items that make you smile, such as artwork or soft pillows or beautiful garden statues. If your sanctuary is a particular room, fill the space with your favorite music, a soothing color palette, and things that hold special meaning for you.
Don’t let fear, worry, or self-doubt creep in and sow the seeds of negativity in your psyche. If you focus on what is true and good, and expend your precious energy on the things you can actually control, then you will indeed stand firm in your positivity.
