Nobody likes hearing negative attitudes, it's always bad news. I see that, but is forced optimism or Pollyanna positivity the cure? I think not. That's swinging from one unbearable extreme to another. Truth is, neither constant positivity nor negativity is the right approach. Nobody want a bucket full of bad news nor a handful of happy talk. The heightened positive and negative tones are best as accents to decorate our attitude rather than major themes.
What is necessary is honest, objective realism: telling thing as they are. Sometimes that's positive when things are looking up, sometimes negative when we're on a slide off the edge. Mostly is just good descriptive narration on life.
All right then, what if life really is looking bad? You're coming down with the flu, for the third time this month, your tires are flat not just on the bottom but the top too, and your dog just watered your new shoes. So what do you say? Is it time to break out your emergency positivity kit? No, dispite all the happy-talk power of positive thinking types telling you to envision a better present, you still can't get more than twenty paces from a toilet, the car is not going anywhere and your feet are wet. No amount of magical thinking cleans and dries shoes, fixes a tire or chases the nasty little bugs out of your guts. Everything will get better with time and some patient work but right now it is kind of sucky. You don't have to be negative about it, it's just bad.
Take politics (there go half of you). Right now I'm living with an official who's afflicted with the half ways: he takes a good idea and finds a way to compromise with a bad idea because it makes people with bad ideas feel powerful and important. He's not bad, just avoidant. Running against Mr Half good are a crowd of misfits. One is so much into his money games he can't relate to a normal person, another is so self-possessed he doesn't have the capacity to be emphatetic, a third is a narrow-minded zealot willing to cause pain to prove a point and finally there's a grumpy old man who sees clearly what the problems are and then proceeds to come up with solutions which absolutely make it worse.
Should I be negative because I'm stuck with Mr half-good because I can't see how there is a choice in Mr hollow suit, Mr Narcissus, Mr Church Lady or Dr Curmudgeon? You bet I should! Realistically things aren't working when your goal is to avoid making bad things worse. When all the offered choices are poor to bad, it's time for a bit of negative focus. No amount of positive thinking is going to make this bunch do good. Say it, this is no good. Then leave the party. Negative is realistic.
What is necessary is honest, objective realism: telling thing as they are. Sometimes that's positive when things are looking up, sometimes negative when we're on a slide off the edge. Mostly is just good descriptive narration on life.
All right then, what if life really is looking bad? You're coming down with the flu, for the third time this month, your tires are flat not just on the bottom but the top too, and your dog just watered your new shoes. So what do you say? Is it time to break out your emergency positivity kit? No, dispite all the happy-talk power of positive thinking types telling you to envision a better present, you still can't get more than twenty paces from a toilet, the car is not going anywhere and your feet are wet. No amount of magical thinking cleans and dries shoes, fixes a tire or chases the nasty little bugs out of your guts. Everything will get better with time and some patient work but right now it is kind of sucky. You don't have to be negative about it, it's just bad.
Take politics (there go half of you). Right now I'm living with an official who's afflicted with the half ways: he takes a good idea and finds a way to compromise with a bad idea because it makes people with bad ideas feel powerful and important. He's not bad, just avoidant. Running against Mr Half good are a crowd of misfits. One is so much into his money games he can't relate to a normal person, another is so self-possessed he doesn't have the capacity to be emphatetic, a third is a narrow-minded zealot willing to cause pain to prove a point and finally there's a grumpy old man who sees clearly what the problems are and then proceeds to come up with solutions which absolutely make it worse.
Should I be negative because I'm stuck with Mr half-good because I can't see how there is a choice in Mr hollow suit, Mr Narcissus, Mr Church Lady or Dr Curmudgeon? You bet I should! Realistically things aren't working when your goal is to avoid making bad things worse. When all the offered choices are poor to bad, it's time for a bit of negative focus. No amount of positive thinking is going to make this bunch do good. Say it, this is no good. Then leave the party. Negative is realistic.
