Escaping the Clutches of Negativity

The world is a negative place. It certainly wasn’t designed that way, but the forces at work behind the scenes have made it that way. Everywhere you look there is something negative vying for your attention and more importantly your consideration. There is an entire host of things threatening potential health problems if you eat this, drink that, do this and don’t do that. There are assaults on your finances, your ability to have enough finances and disasters awaiting you in the event that you do not have sufficient resources to meet the challenge. Add to that political babbling with the impending doom that awaits you if support this President or vote against that President. There are religious pursuits with one group ever trying to control another group, indeed every other group. The television, the Internet, Social Media, the endless advertisements all pressuring you day by day to live amidst a world of perpetual negative expectation. “People have lived on negatives so long that they think it strange when someone comes along with a positive message” as a great man often used to say. So what can we do to live above the negatives of the world? How can we learn to change our mindset and our expectations? How can we escape the clutches of negativity?

Negativity and positivity are not simply ways of interpreting a message, i.e. some things are not negative, but only become negative if you interpret them negatively, as a friend once informed me. That logic serves to eliminate differences between good and bad by making both simply a matter of viewpoint. Some things that happen to you are bad and while you may find some learning and strength in overcoming them, they are still bad. Certain things that happen to us have evil intention behind them. They are not benign, neutral or simply a circumstance that can be interpreted in several different ways. It’s not very nice to consider this proposition, but it is our reality. The truth is that the negatives in life need our cooperation in order to inflict harm on us. We cooperate as we let these ideas hold sway in our minds and continue to consider them. And, like any disease left unchecked, the negatives begin to occupy more and more space until they eventually consume us. Soon we are no longer enjoying our lives and the freedom God has given us. We trade our freedom for slavery, controlled and manipulated by fear. The root cause of negativity is always fear as fear is carefully woven into the fabric of negativity. Negativity is to live amidst perpetual negative expectations. It is not “just” a mindset. It is a method used to turn our positive expectations into negative expectations which will eventually lead to negative results. Our lives are greatly shaped by the things which we expect. Life doesn’t just happen to us as we helplessly try to navigate agitated and troublesome seas. We happen to life and actually shape circumstances, opportunities, hardships and good results by our expectations for our lives. One of the greatest lies ever pawned off on man is the notion that there is nothing we can do about anything in our lives as everything that happens was going to happen anyway absent man’s involvement. That fatalistic belief does a disservice to God’s creation and the free will He gave to every human being. Your mind, your thinking eventually gets into your heart from whence you believe and as a result the issues of your life appear. In order to escape negativity’s clutches you have to take control of your mind.

Negativity, also called fear, at its core is always a lie. I’m not suggesting that the bad things that happen to us are lies. Those things are very real. What I’m suggesting is that adopting a negative mindset is a trap being set for us by our craftily hidden opponent. A negative mindset is not feeling the sting of negative events, but rather expecting negative events before they appear. It always begins with a temptation to consider some negative potential problem. Once the consideration takes place (doubt), if held onto occupies our thoughts (worry), then leads straight to full blown fear (negative belief) which produces real negative results. That’s not to say all the negatives that besiege us are based on our own beliefs, but by cooperating with evil by choosing negativity we certainly don’t help our situation. Negativity wrongly presumes there is nothing God can do to alleviate our suffering or that He is not willing to help based on something we do or don’t do. Both viewpoints are error. Jesus healed every person who came to him for help and there’s no record of any interview concerning their behavior or religious affiliation that preceded their glorious results. Further, if you read about the various miracles that occurred it is pretty clear that God who was working through him was not limited in any conceivable capacity. But, when we allow negativity to get a hold on us we are tying God’s hands. He wants to help us but He will not and cannot violate our free will, neither our earnest expectation. Being negative glorifies the one behind the negatives. It is saying, I believe the negatives of the world more than I believe the positives of God’s Word. Sure it happens to all of us at times, but the sooner we change our minds the better. We can change our thoughts and begin to escape the seemingly powerful negative grasp.

Often one of the best ways to escape negativity is by refusing to entertain negative thoughts. No you cannot control every whacky, pernicious thing that enters your mind, but you can decide whether or not it is allowed to remain. A negative mindset is cultivated by holding onto a collection of negative thoughts. The assault doesn’t happen from one angle, it happens from many different angles. It is especially prevalent during periods of stress and uncertainty. And guess where stress and uncertainty come from? Same source, same enemy, different angle. By the time you have developed a negative mindset you have been worked on relentlessly, though it may have escaped your view. The only way to dismantle error is by taking it on one thought at a time, brick by brick until the edifice of error is torn down. We humans need to slow down from our frenetic pace (which we falsely assume is industry or healthy busy-ness). We need to take the time we need in order to get things straight. Ignoring problems or occupying ourselves in order to avoid them just leads to more trouble later on. We need to take some time to talk things over with God, our Father. We need to get clear about what is bothering us, our frustrations and our failures, our challenges, our needs, the problems we cannot seem to get past. We can talk openly and freely about anything without fear of any judgment or any other thing religious people have threatened us with. Wouldn’t you want your children to talk honestly with you about the problems they are having without fear of any judgment from you? Wouldn’t you help them if it was within your power to do so? God is no different than us in this regard except He has no limits in what He can do to help us. I personally take time almost every morning to write my “Morning Pages” with God where I treasure the time I have with Him as I write down whatever is on my mind. I asks lots of questions about things I don’t understand. I tell Him about my frustrations and challenges. I am completely honest in every possible way about literally everything. No topic or subject is off limits. Mostly, I seek His answers and clarity which He is most faithful to provide for me always. So journaling is another strategy. But whatever you choose, choose something. You aren’t going to escape a negative mindset overnight, but by remaining faithful to seek His help you will get what you need. Try it for yourself.

Living in this negative world it is very easy to become negative and soured about life. At times things seem to have no rhyme or reason behind them. Often the things we can see are not the reality at all. The promises of God are there from Him to help you with every part of your life. Yes there are things you can do to aid you in being or becoming healthy. Yes there are activities you can participate in to help you earn more money. Yes at times it feels as if the country is going to hell. Yes there are forces working to take away our freedoms and bring us into slavery. Yes you are still going to be bombarded by the things you see and hear from a million different avenues. But at the end of the day, the One that promised to keep you healthy and to give you a long and fulfilled life is God. He promised to prosper you and meet your every need, financial and otherwise. God looks after His people which includes the country they live in and He will fight to preserve your freedom as you choose to believe Him and let Him do what He said. He knows you are surrounded by negatives but even then He has given you the freedom to decide what you will and will not think about; what you will and will not look at. He is always the victor over evil and all He needs from you is a little cooperation in choosing His glorious positivity over the pervasive negativity that seeks to engulf you every day. With God you can always escape the clutches of negativity. The question is will you?

Just some good thoughts…