How do you stay positive?

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Positivity can feel phony. I feel the most comfortable being negative at least there are no surprises. Trusting people can be difficult. Everyone is different and has different values, morals, biases, prejudices.
 
I am the same. My imperfection is contridicting myself and wanting to stay at least below of positive attitudes, but it isn’t phony to be positive. I lack the mood to smile, but the rejoice in God’s love is positive. Not for better, but for worse. When positives are given to us and we yet to stay negative is when we are stopping ourselves. I can be in the worst mood ever, but at least God has given me the urge to pray. I look at the weather, it isn’t that bad. I ate today and I got through today, thanks be to God.

I guess the simple answer to the question is I don’t question what state I am in. God is my strength to keep going, to pray and to rejoice in the Holy Spirit. I might not think I have much, but deeper thought will say otherwise. Im negative, but even then I can’t see everything this way. God gives me what I need, what more could I ask for?
 
Well, things have improved with me since Christmas when I wrote a post in which I was unhappy.

Exercise can really help with being positive.

Also, taking care of HALT helps: hunger, anger, loneliness and tiredness.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation helps.

Also, checking out videos on youtube of people in far worse circumstances than mine can help.
 
I simply remind myself that present suffering cannot be compared with the glory that is yet to come. All suffering is only temporary, so there’s no point in letting suffering take hold of your life.
 
I always consider Jesus on the cross.
He wasn’t positive or negative …
So maybe there’s a lot to be said about being neutral.
And that’s - a fine line !
 
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Jump4Joy said:
Positivity can feel phony. I feel the most comfortable being negative at least there are no surprises. Trusting people can be difficult. Everyone is different and has different values, morals, biases, prejudices.
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People tend to use being positive to control how you behave. When someone says, “Don’t be so negative.” Or, “no negative thoughts here.”

But if that’s the case, then people would ignore impoverishment, and do nothing to help the poor. Thus, do I find the language of positive/negative to be uncharitable. I get it, though, people want to keep their sense/wits/sanity about themselves. So not to fall into being depressed or some unhealthy/disordered view. What could be referred as negative (i.e. taking away from something good.) Which is understood, in that way. However, if someone cannot come to you with their wounds, hurt, and pain. Because you have simply told them to feel no hurt or pain, and seek assistance in saying so. In other words, the tendency of the positive/negative language/view/respect of culture tends to slide into the direction of selfishness. Not seeing the damage/hurt/wounds of the world.

Interesting, this comes from new age alignments of thinking/though that merit their idea’s from the East/Orient traditions. In fact, the parents of the Nepalian prince, kept rotting fruit, the sick, and dying from their son. They were Hindu. And from there, wanted their son to be ignorant of aging and dying. Thus, a negative view of what was around them. But then once their son saw what happened, he left. And became a prominent philosopher/contributor of Buddhism. Thus called the Buddha. He at least saw the negative.

But new agists today, like to employ a similar tactic as his parents with people. To deny the evils around the culture. Things like death and aging.

I do not like the language surrounding being positive. It is a mis-use and distortion of language. Negative means absence of what should be there. We say -15 degree Fahrenheit. To mean below freezing, negative. Or when you are in debt, and owe money. Negative has a profitable purpose. For even Jesus was being taken away through death. Through the nails on the Cross. Many would say that is really negative. But the truth is, Jesus died because of us. Because of sin. Because of society. Because of the world.

He would not let us slide into the absence/negative encounter with sin. But to be a light/a positive to the world: the means of Salvation. Not ignoring the pain and hurt of the world. But to long endure it for the Salvation of souls. Thus Jesus is the unconquered light. He conquered death. And love triumphed, in the end.

Ignoring what is evil, just to be positive does nothing. And so, in that way, in that view of the word “positive” is really a negative, masquerading as a positive. When it isn’t Anyone who thinks it’s a positive to ignore the evils, just to make one’s self feel good. Are doing nothing to fight the absence caused by the darkness of sin.
 
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I tend to stay positive by looking at the good things in life, like the beauty in nature and all creation, the love of people around me, and the good things God has provided for me.

I am not denying that there are difficulties, disappointments, pain, evils, and so on. It’s more like I am a glass-half-full kind of guy. Life is good.
 
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It is true that everyone is different and has different values, morals, biases, prejudices, but all I see are people with stories to share, feelings to show, fears to address, and opinions to hear. If it were not so, I would be positively at a loss, and if I can just give one person comfort, joy, hope, compassion, an ear, I feel this day was not wasted.
 
Jump4Joy said:
Positivity can feel phony. I feel the most comfortable being negative at least there are no surprises. Trusting people can be difficult. Everyone is different and has different values, morals, biases, prejudices.
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As a child of God, everything that happens in our life is for a purpose - a key (for me) to stay positive. With God as a Father, what could be terribly go wrong; or if God is with us, who then can be against us?

Without God in the picture as the focus in our lives, positivity can indeed be elusive.

God bless.
 
I always try to tell myself that better and more holy people than me have suffered more yet kept trusting God.
 
Tuning out all the negativity and terrible stories on media has helped tremendously. I completely stopped watching TV and limited internet time. I scan headlines in one or two online newspapers every day and get all I need to know. I don’t “do” Facebook, Twitter, etc.
We are called to renew our minds and hearts by meditating on the Good News of Christ. I don’t find any of this media allows me to do so.
 
The most difficult part for me is believing that God’s Providence is what’s best for us. Because often times, it certainly seems like the exact opposite.

But if we can accept in our hearts what we know intellectually to be true, I think we can be more positive and joyous and optimistic.

I don’t have the answer as to how this is to be done however…
 
To be honest, I feel positive by trusting in God, and keep remembering that He loves me. That is my experience.
 
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I’m usually a positive person but sometimes I get really down and I know I have nothing to be down about because God loves me and has a place for me in eternity–just because he chose me to be born!!! Still, I have to pray a LOT and ask Jesus to take away my sadness or depression or negativity… Mary, wrap me in your cloak and keep me close to you…
 
Hello.

I have depression so I’m not sure what to say here. I do know that trying to be kind at all times and acting like a Christian ought to act, no matter what, can go a long way.

It is also good to be genuine and honest.
 
Maybe try to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Find your edge. This is how we grow, by not stifling ourselves. Yes trusting folks can be difficult but trusting ourselves our egos can be difficult as well. This quote is from Fr. Charles Grondin. “My advice is to remember that God does not get us out of anything, but He will get us through everything.” I find these helpful and healing in many different situations. Here is another quote-this one from saint Ambrose. “No one heals himself by wounding another.” How many times or ways have I wounded another in one conversation? I can’t say but I have to believe that by being negative just because it felt “comfortable” has to been used at least once by me. I try to stay positive by meditating and praying daily, thinking positive thoughts rather than negative ones. Letting go of negativity makes room for positivity. May you have good fortune on your journey.
 
The knowledge that things usually aren’t as bad as they seem.

For every negative story on the news, there are a thousand positive events that aren’t covered (because they wouldn’t attract as much interest). You never hear about how a terror attack or similar event hasn’t occurred today. You never hear about dropping crime rates. News anchors don’t bring up the fact that billions of people across the globe went to work, donated a bit to charity, and came home to a nice dinner with their loved ones. Although these sorts of things constitute the norm, folks don’t feel that way.

Contrast this to human evil being covered forcefully in the media. Even tragic events that are unbelievably rare come to seem commonplace because bloggers/anchors/pundits spend a bunch of hours analyzing them. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Fox/CNN/MSNBC, and others have made this problem several times worse. And I don’t buy what they’re selling.

I’m currently studying political science and am looking to work in public service. I constantly hear people talk about how doomed society is. I encourage them to take a step back, breath, and recognize that things can get better if we set our minds to it.

And of course, there’s also the matter of being thankful that God has blessed us all with love, generosity, and the ability to be good people.
 
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