Today I Choose to Be Negative

“What we focus on, we empower and enlarge. Good multiplies when focused upon. Negativity multiplies when focused upon. The choice is ours: Which do we want more of?”

Julia Cameron, Blessings

“People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Today I think I will be negative.  Yes, that’s right.  I said it.  Today I am not going to be positive or hopeful or helpful.   Today I am committing to the following:

·      I choose to allow my children to act inappropriately.

·      I choose to let others take advantage of me.

·      I choose not to be impeccable with my word.

·      I choose self-pity.

·     I choose to not do my work.

·     I choose to be weak.

·     I choose to give in to others at the first sign of their disapproval.

·     I choose to complain.

·     I choose to react rather than think.

·     I choose to get sucked into other people’s self-pity.

·     I choose to spend money foolishly.

·     I choose to have a messy environment.

·     I choose to be unloving.

·     I choose to drive unsafely.

·     I choose to listen to or watch whatever happens to be on the radio or television, no matter how negative, false, critical or mind numbing.

·     I choose to eat foods that are bad for my body.

·     I choose to be ungrateful, or at the very least, not acknowledge the good things and people in my life.

·     I choose other peoples’ agenda for my life.

·     I choose to not write down any goals or plans for the day.

·     I choose to not let people know if I will be late.

·     I choose to say whatever I want, preferably without thinking.

·     I choose to raise my voice.

·     I choose to embarrass my children and say bad things about them and in front of them to other people.

·     I choose to not pray.

·     I choose to not forgive.

·     I choose to be rude.

·     I choose to hold on to the past, especially the times where people have hurt me.

·     I choose to wish for a better future but not actually work towards it.

·     I choose to not study because I believe I have nothing new to learn.

·     I choose to not get started.

·     I choose to not keep going.

·     I choose to not take responsibility for any area of my life, unless that area happens to be going well.  Then I will take full credit.

·     Most of all, I choose to blame others for my problems and predicaments.

Sadly, I have been inconsistent today and I have not followed through with many of the above-mentioned choices.  I should have easily followed through with all my negative choices because they require little or no effort.  They require no thought or work.  In fact, for many people, these aren’t even choices any longer; they are just a normal part of living.  These choices are the lifestyle of the lazy, the cowardly and the irresponsible.

A positive, responsible and successful life takes focus, courage and determination.  It also takes every waking minute.  I cannot be asleep unless I am actually sleeping.  I need to be awake.  I need to Get Started and Keep Going.  And maybe I need to not be so negative.