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PROGRAM D-7524
You know, we’ve all got enough troubles in this world without inflicting more on ourselves unnecessarily. Obviously the smart thing for any of us to do is to get rid of those self-inflicted sufferings.
Bitterness, self-pity and lack of discipline are the three we’ve discussed already. How about being negative? That’s about as harmful as anything I can think of. Are you a negative person? Do you gripe and complain frequently? Do you tend to look on the dark side all the time? Do you focus on people’s faults rather than their good points? How much of your speech is in negative territory? What about your thought life?
I sure wish someone had warned me about negativity earlier in my life. I don’t think I ever seriously thought about how negative I might be until a few years ago. Perhaps I just didn’t listen, but I now certainly recognize how important it is not to dwell in negativity. It is self-inflicted suffering.
Every time I focus on the bad things—whether it’s the weather or a friend’s faults or my sore throat or the work piled on my desk—then I immediately add a lot of stress to my life. In addition, negativity slows you down because it wastes your energy. Our negativity harms others as well as ourselves. We drag others down with us, and we drive people away from us.
Here’s the cure for negativity: thankfulness. Paul wrote to the Colossians: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Col 2:6-7). Frequently I say to myself: “Mary, overflow with thankfulness today.” I can choose to overflow with thankfulness or I can choose to be negative.
Negativity is so not like Jesus. Jesus wouldn’t be focused on all the negatives. He didn’t stick his head in the sand and live in denial; he faced the evil and wrongdoing of his day. But he always had his eyes fixed on the Father, and he always overflowed with thankfulness.
You can too, right now, by a set of your will. Being negative is self-inflicted suffering. Check it out; you may not realize just how often you slide into negative territory. If you’ll be more positive, you’ll discover enormous benefits and great relief from that self-inflicted suffering.