"You're one of the most positive men I know!"
That comment was made be my good friend Robert Johnson. Yes I'm a very positive person and many people ask me why do I make positive posts on my blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. My answer? Why not?
We live in a very negative world. A world where the negative comes before the positive. Look at the news. The negative stories are always covered first. At the end of the broadcast there is always positive story to end things. Why can't there be more positive stories during the broadcast? I've heard several television and media people say, "nice doesn't sell." So, that means negative stories and shows have to be shown to attract viewers and advertisers. Have you noticed on the reality shows, its the drama and the villains that get all the publicity. Hmmmmm.
My friend Rodger is a professional speaker I get to work with often. Many times he talks with audiences about the book, "How Full is your Bucket." The book talks about how we interact with others. The books says the average person has over 10,000 interactions with other people daily. The interactions can be verbal and non-verbal. The point that always hits me is, for every one negative interaction we have, we need seven positive interactions just to make up for it.
Wow! That means if someone calls you ugly, you need seven positive interactions just to get back to feeling ok about yourself. Does this happen in our world? They're is some much negativity that we are exposed to on a daily basis. How much positive do we see? It's easy to understand why people think of the negative before they can see the positive.
My dream has always been to create the environments that people desire to be in. Environments that they can flourish. It's very difficult if not impossible for people to flourish if they are surrounded by and constantly exposed to negativity. I don't want to be part of that. Sharing positive quotes, thoughts and posts are just a few ways I'm working to make my dream a reality.
Everyday I get to watch my son wave at complete strangers as they drive by him when we take our walks. The first reaction of those drivers? They smile and wave back. I started to do the same thing. Guess what? The drivers smiled and waved back to me too. We've actually become friends with several of those people. We complain about how the world could be a better place, but we need to look in the mirror and ask if we are doing anything to change that.
Do you want to be known as a positive person or a negative person? The choice is yours. It's your choice to select the people you surround yourself with. It's your choice to select the environments you place yourself in. It's your choice to choose what you expose yourself to.
I know some of you are saying, that I'm choosing to ignore the negative. Not at all. I'm choosing to recognize that they are negative things in the world and when I see them I'm making the choice to turn those negative into a positive. How, by choosing my actions.
Here's a quick example. I could share a negative post or story on my blog, or I can post a story on what can be done to prevent negative things from happening again. I can make a post about the people who are working to prevent negative things from happening.
We don't see enough good in the world. I'm doing my part to help out!
Have a great week! Go out and do something positive for someone this week!
