Like everything in our world, Positive thinking has a negative side and a positive side and everything in between. Positivity and positive thinking is a wonderful thing in many situations. Positive thinking leads to positive speaking. What comes out of our mouth effects those we are interacting within relationships In many situations people use positive thinking as a cover up for the emotions they are avoiding. Like everything, there is a time and a place and an appropriate useful way to address the situation. Positive thinking, if used appropriately can show up in many different forms depending on the circumstance. Just like a mechanic using specific tools to fix a vehicle or a surgeon using specific instruments for each different surgical procedure, positivity in its unadulterated form is only useful in certain situations.

I have actually had this happen, I was distraught over a situation occurring in my life, and the person involved was coming to see me. I was greeted by this person with a joyful smile and a greeting of “I’m excited to see you I’ve been looking forward to it all day”, as though nothing were wrong. Comparable to someone walking into a funeral and greeting the widow by saying, hi I’m so excited to see you. I’ve been looking forward to it all day. Highly insensitive and inappropriate behavior. This is an extreme example of someone hiding from their own emotions, not taking responsibility for how their choices effect those they are in relationship with.

Obviously it would be ludicrous to behave that way with someone who is distraught, no matter what the circumstance. A more appropriate interaction would have been compassion and support. Questions like what can I do to help you get through this? How can I assist? What can I do? Many people get so caught up in fears and guilt from past experiences they are literally rendered dysfunctional in their ability to relate and communicate. More importantly, often their choices actually create the situation they feel guilty about.
So the negative side to positive thinking has to do with people denying their own pain and so called negativity. The issue comes into play with emotional pain more

often than physical pain. If someone is in physical pain we offer medications and solutions that will repair it and assist in the healing. We ask what the level of pain is being experienced and then strategize to assist. Emotional pain is often over looked, denied, judged to be bad or weak and told to go away…even sometimes called crazy. The happy stamp is frequently brought out for emotional pain. People frequently abuse themselves by denying their emotions, often simply repeating the old learned patterns from the past in one way or another.
On the other hand, in appropriate situations positive thinking can be extremely useful and has been proven to support good health. Even in the face of fear and danger you can bring a lightheartedness and sense of humor in to play, yet another form of positive thinking. As long as “positive thinking” isn’t used to deny and judge “negativity”, all forms of it are useful. Having flexibility and remembering there is a time for everything is the most useful and effective way to live.

Thank you for sharing in another present moment experience of our Beautiful world.

Love and Light Susan Newton

www.susanfaynewton.com