The power of negative thinking

Sometimes, as is the way in life, I find myself in the company of someone particularly negative. I mean negative as in the glass isn't just half empty but it has smashed and cut someone. I am sure everyone knows at least one person who fits this description. Now I know there's very few people who actively enjoy that kind of input but I feel I might take it worse than some for one simple reason. I am incredibly sensitive to the emotions of other people and I am forever bringing home other peoples emotional baggage and thinking it's my own. Sometimes it takes me days to sort through it and realise it's not mine at all.

 It's draining to when you take this on and it can leave me feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. Now to be fair I am not little miss sunshine myself, I can be prone to bouts of problem finding where no solution will work and everything is going wrong, particularly if I am feeling down so it would be fair to say the last thing I need is encouragement. Now I am not advocating for the type of thinking that would lead me to stick affirmations on my mirror so I can recite them in the morning. I am Irish after all and that sort of thinking does not come naturally to us. I prefer mildly cautious optimism with a bit of dry and sarcastic wit thrown in. 

 So let's put it here. The world is not ending, at least not this year. It's not all doom and gloom. As Leonard Cohen said, 'there are cracks in everything, that's how the light gets in'.
We are not all terrible people really and I find the more you give out about everyone and everything the more you breed that kind of thinking. I know for myself I can feel myself getting on the negative bandwagon. Here's something terrible I heard, you'll never guess what this person has done, can you believe what that person said and on and on in a loop of unhappiness. So I am calling stop on the negativity. It's bad for me and God only knows I can generate enough negative thoughts without a helping hand. Perhaps I will run away shouting I am not listening, fingers in my ears and singing la la la la really loudly just like I did when I was six. It worked a treat for me then but it may not be appropriate now. Instead I might start trying to leave the negativity where I have found it instead of carrying it around like I have been doing all along. 

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