Negativity

I couldn't think of a creative title for this blog so it's simple what I'm blogging.

When i was in America, negativity stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone was always so supportive and encouraging that when negativity entered our midst at any time, it was an unwelcome, ugly and an uninvited intrusion.

Three months of very little negativity does something to a person and it sticks with you when you leave an environment like that. So much so that when you return home, it's a constant punch in the guts!

Before i left for the States, i recognised negativity, it's pretty hard not to. But now that I'm back i find that i'm alot less negative than i used to be.

How do i know that?

Because people that gossip and talk about others gets on my nerves as does when people badmouth other people or put them down particularly in an effort to make themselves feel better or look better.

Now as i said before, i'm no saint and when it comes to negativity i've probably been the worst offender and am still learning to stay away from it and those that bring me down with them.

But my experience since camp has left no room for negativity. It makes people bitter and depressed and it's often at the expensive of someone else. And what's with blame? Why do we blame others when we get hurt whether they deserve it or not? What's so special about us that's not special about others?

Why do people judge eachother? Why have we become such a bitter race that someone's efforts, abilities or even looks causes us to feel the need to judge?

I love how The Message puts it in Matthew 7:

"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging (hahaha). It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."

To me, negativity is not a happy thing and it doesn't allow room for happiness. In fact, it just pulls us down and makes us feel like we HAVE to be angry and upset. Negativity is also a catching disease, when someone around you is negative, then if you subject yourself to it for long enough, you start becoming negative as well.

I had to blog about this because i feel like i am confronted with negativity on a daily basis since camp and i think it's time we all started smiling more, serving more, encouraging more, uplifting eachother and not taking life so personally as though it and it's inhabitants owes us something! I don't know about you but my life seems less stressful and alot brighter when i am around people who enjoy life and appreciate that there's more to life than being critical of one another, more to life than hard circumstances we might find ourselves in.

The next time you go to criticise someone about what they do, or how they live, what they wear or how they look, the next time you call someone an idiot or stupid or even say 'what would they know' or even call them hopeless, maybe we should all and i include myself in that, step back and ask ourselves how we're supporting or uplifting that person or even that situation we're being so negative about.

What is it that attracts us to robbing people and life of its joy?

It's that old sayig, "It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile"

So why then, does it sometimes feel so hard to crack a smile instead of populating negativity? Please help me in rescuing our planet from this catching disease called negativity!