Let’s Kick Negativity in the Butt

So I was digging YouTube (looking for gold) when I came across this heartrending documentary by Vice News—Suicide Forest in Japan.

Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mt. Fuji is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. Each year hundreds of people walk into this forest with no intention of ever walking out. The forest is so dense that many corpses remain undiscovered for years, some are lost forever. The government scans the forest annually, and gives a proper burial to the corpses it is able to find. Forest Guards sometime find people who’re unsure of dying, and convince them to return home.

This documentary reminded me of an article I’d read in The Speaking Tree recently, “Our thoughts can change our lives”, by Shakti Durga. Excerpts from the article—

“Have you ever noticed that you can be lying in bed minding your own business and suddenly inside your head you find that you’re thinking of the last argument you had with your partner, or your lack of finances, or you find yourself playing in your head something stressful that was said or done at work?”

“If a thought loop is positive, life affirming, beaming with happiness and enjoyment of life, then it will help you… If you though loops are negative, ‘I’m such an idiot, or ‘I’m always broke’, then they drag you down. They reinforce the problem you are having and dig the hole deeper…”

Well, such is the power of thoughts. Think positive thoughts and you will attract positivity. Think negative thoughts and… well. When dark thoughts are allowed to manifest in your sparkly brain for too long, they wreck havoc. The devour your sparkle and fill the resulting void with crap. And you think “my life doesn’t matter, nobody matters, nothing matters”. But this is not true! Every time you think a thought, you feed it. So if you don’t like it, you have to stop it. Want positive stuff to happen to you? Then think positive!

Of course, you cannot be happy all the time. I’m only asking you to learn to kick negativity in the arse, so that you can rid your mind of it ASAP. Some quirks I adopt to shut the negative thoughts out and lift myself up—
(Every point may not work for you, obviously. Choose what suits you, or make up your own list!)

• Strike a pose in front of the mirror. Yes, I know it’s clichéd, you’ve read it before and blah. Ever try it? No. Why? Well. So the next time your spirit’s on its way to the dark abyss of nothingness, find a mirror. Strut a little and smile (you can even pout). Your beautiful reflection will cheer you up in no time!

• Talk to yourself, loudly. Tell yourself it’s not the end of the world. If you don’t get that job, the Earth’s not gonna crack open and push you into its bowels. So what if you made an embarrassing mistake? Can you let one bad day at school define your life? No. So why mull over it? Please, don’t! Learn your lesson, get over it and find new ways to embarrass yourself. What’s life sans little awkward embarrassment?

• Surround yourself with people who exude positivity. Tell your story to your best friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/mother/father/sister/brother/whoever, and then junk it. For God’s sake, you don’t have to carry this weight all by yourself, share the burden! Okay, it’s fine if you don’t wanna divulge your secrets, just go out and declare you’re in a bad mood. People are nice, they’ll try to brighten you up.

• Be proud of yourself. You’ve accomplished so much in life, does that not count? Yes, you messed up this time around. You performed poorly on a test, or got admonished by your boss. Is it the end of the road for you? NO! Remind yourself of your achievements. You’re in a lion fight. Just because you didn’t win doesn’t mean you don’t know how to roar. ~Grey’s

• Occupy yourself. Busy yourself with stuff you love doing. This is the time to pick up the book which has been sitting on your shelf for months. Or maybe, its time to revive the artist in you? Don’t give your brain enough space to think about what happened, listen to some music maybe? Better still, how about you rock that Karaoke tonight?

Got some points you’d like to add to this list? Leave them in the comments below, I will add them to this post!

Cheers!