Replacing Negativity

Yesterday morning, I reached for my deck of Strong cards. You may remember that these cards were supplied by our church to help us challenge ourselves and grow spiritually. The card I pulled out yesterday morning said this:

Replace Negativity

Don't say anything negative today. Don't criticize, complain or use sarcasm. Instead, whenever you're tempted to say something negative or critical. Use that breath to thank God for something good.

Sounds so simple doesn't it? Be kind, think, say and do kind things. How hard can that be? Well, it is tough! Especially because right now I have an antagonist that is working desperately to see that I fail at replacing negativity. Interesting though that while I was out with a friend of mine yesterday I worked especially hard to maintain a positive attitude, and with my friends help it went pretty well.

There were a few lapses where in order to share a story or two, it required information that in any other context might sound negative but the story needed to be shared and the information had to be accurate, so…well…I just said what needed to be said. Perhaps it helps that at the time I announced that I was not saying it in a negative way, only referencing the information for color and perspective.

The idea behind this card is to make me aware of negativity in my life. I find this ironic since I have been spending quite a bit of time the last few years trying to peel away the negative layers and here I am realizing that maybe it was more about how I respond and think and less about the antagonist. I do have to say that on my outing with my friend, we were approached a few times by people asking for advice about items and just friendly chit chat, something that we have not experienced in the past.

Could it be that because we were intentionally open and replacing negativity that we had an aura of approachability? We pondered this as we chatted about how interesting the day had been. We wondered if our desire to be a nonnegative force was actually the power behind these interactions. One thing is certain it was inspiring to replace negativity. It is not an easy way for a sworn sarcasmaholic to live this way, but I am going to try to incorporate a more positive dialogue into my life. I liked that people were responding to us in a friendly way today, which make me realize if I like it, than others must like it too. This alone is a very good reason to replace negativity, what would the world be like, if we all just made an effort to be kind and pleasant. It's something to think about, try it today, just step out with the intention of smiling and thinking positive and see what happens. It could change you.