Sometimes people ask me why I’m so optimistic and positive. Usually, when people ask me this, it’s not really a question, but more of an accusation. The unspoken comment is that it’s somehow wrong or indecent for anyone to be happy and positive when the world is in the state it’s in. And the corollary to that, of course, is that they feel the world is in pretty bad shape.
Headlines and horrors
I suppose if you spend a lot of time paying attention to headlines and newsfeeds it may seem that way. Not a day goes by when you’re not inundated with news about terrorist organizations and speculation about what they’re up to. People are dying from frightening epidemics. There is war. There is drought. There is hunger. There is a global economic catastrophe on the horizon. And we might be on the brink of a mass extinction event.
It’s enough to give anyone nightmares.
Which is why I don’t focus on any of this stuff. It’s not that I don’t care… because I do. It’s not that I’m in denial… because I’m not. It’s because I know how powerful my energy and focus are. I know that focusing on what I don’t want, in my own life or in the world at large, is the best way to magnify that dark energy and bring more of what I don’t want into existence.
So I choose, instead to focus on what I do want. I focus on creating the kind of life and the kind of world that I want to see. I focus on love. I focus on kindness. I focus on peace. I focus on joy. I focus on a healthy planet and healthy people. I focus on a world where all people live in harmony, in understanding and celebration of our differences. A world in which all beings are loved and cared for and a world in which we are all encouraged to shine our light as brightly as we can.
That is the kind of world and experience I want, so that is what I focus on.
Be the change: make a choice
Does this mean that I’m a blind Pollyanna who naively refuses to see the dark stuff that is there? No. It means I’m optimist who understands that all problems have solutions. And rather than curl into a useless ball and wail about how awful everything is, rather than compounding the problem by using the current global situations as an excuse for atrocious behaviours and attitudes, I choose instead to focus on finding and creating solutions. I choose to get off my ass and become a part of the force for positive change. I choose to use my considerable creative powers to build something better. I choose to be the change I wish to see.
There are big things happening in the world right now, yes. But while the media chooses to focus entirely on the darker aspects of those changes, be assured that there are equally strong forces of light at play, too. If it’s the light you want in your life, then focus on that. Be part of that force of light and help it to grow! Kindle the fires of kindness and joy whenever and wherever you can. Look for projects that you can contribute to that will help to make the world a better place. Work for solutions rather than bitching about problems.
Shine your light
I am a lightworker. And if you’re one of my regular readers, you are most likely a lightworker yourself, whether you’ve come to realize it yet or not. But in you is great power, should you choose to use it. You feel the energy of all that is. You instinctively know that there is something more to our existence than what we see and feel with our five senses. And what’s more, you have the ability to manipulate the energy around you. You have been born with the ability to act as a catalyst… your light is so strong that it attracts others who are on the verge of learning their own power; you are a focal point around which others can rekindle their own spirits and learn to let their own light shine.
Some take a page from Paulo Coelho’s work and call us the Warriors of Light. But we’re not warriors. We don’t fight. We don’t need to. All we need to do is be the light… to let it work through us and as us, and to concentrate our actions in service of the universal forces of love and kindness; to let ourselves shine so that others can come to know that they can, too. Because that’s how the light grows; person to person; spark by spark.
Light is stronger than darkness
And that’s all it takes for the balance of power to shift. Light is strong; no matter how dark it gets, a single flare of light is instantly seen through the shadows. And a single flame can ignite thousands more. The darkness cannot win, so long as a single point of light remains.
So shine.
Shine your light and focus on what you want to see. Stop complaining about the state of the world, and stop fearing it. If you want things to change, then start changing them yourself. Use your thoughts, your actions and your energy to create the kind of world you want to see, and never underestimate the power of the ripple effect. Your light and your energy will touch others. And together we can and will be the change we wish to see.
P.S. There’s a secret about lightworkers, and that is that we all are. That potential lies in each and every one of us. Some people know it, and some don’t. But it’s there inside. And you’re the only one who can decide whether to use that power or not…
photo credit: pixabay.com cc
One question I have Nathalie is, if the universe is indeed skewed to the positive, then why the dominance of negativity? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I think it is up to us to see it, huh?
And, if we are light-workers, I still do not understand why we have to go through a lot. Is it to actually gain perspective and make it easier for us to help others? If we have expanded from all our hardships, then why do we still wobble in the dwelling of them? Why can’t we just move on to the light-only section? I hear what you are saying in the post, it is just that it’s hard.
There was a time when humans lived hundreds of years, we got what we wanted and needed just by saying it, there were no diseases were rampant. No, it was not boring. It sounds boring to us because we are just not used to such a state, yet it was there, according to masters. I do not even think we can contemplate such as existence with what we have now, yet it did exist and it is possible. the vibration lowered and those times came to an end. And why, in the upward movement of vibration, do we have to see more negativity and crap?
Yup, it is tiring focusing on the bad as you describe and I wonder how people do it? Maybe that is why they are always tired, sick, bored, etc?
1) Are you sure that there really is a dominance of negativity, or is that just what you’ve been conditioned to look for?
2) The more our collective consciousness focuses on the negative aspects of life, the more of that will get created. There is an energy to our thoughts and our focus, not just at an individual level, but at the macro level, too. What we focus on expands, what we resist persists.
You don’t have to go through a lot. Some of us do. Some of us don’t. There are a lot of people in the world who have not had what anyone would consider a “hard” life in any way. I don’t know why some of us go through more than others do. Other than that, in some way, we were a match to those particular experiences. My own belief is that we all choose to come here, and that we all put a lot of planning into what we wanted to do and experience when we got here. Loose plans, of course — I think part of the appeal that life holds is that those plans can be changed as you go along. It’s the biggest adventure there is. And for most people, the good parts outweigh any of the pain that could occur during the process.
Maybe lightworkers are like glow sticks. It’s when you experience something in life that causes you to become cracked and completely shakes you up, that you are best able to come to terms with your own light. There’s a statue in NYC done by Paige Bradley, and it’s called “Expansion”. It’s a woman seated in the lotus position, and there are cracks running all through her and at night, bright light pours out of every one of those cracks. Leonard Cohen wrote a song called “Anthem”, in which he sings “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”, but I think it’s more like Bradley’s statue… the cracks let the light pour out. And maybe it’s all that spilled light, from those who have experience real pain, that will one day change the world so that we no longer need pain. Maybe those of us who have been hurt by life agreed, on some level, to experience this just so that we could become cracked; just so that we could add to the light that scares away the dark.
Author E.B. White’s Beautiful Letter to a Man Who Had Lost Faith in Humanity:
Dear Mr. Nadeau:
As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.
Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.
Sincerely,
E. B. White
What a beautiful passage. Thanks for sharing. 🙂