The Power of Negative Thinking
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By Fareeha Qayoom
A |
friend of mine remarked the other day that she’s surrounded by a lot of unhappy/negative people. All she hears are complains, complains, and yet more complains. (I could relate because this has been my experience as well.). Another friend joined us at this point; she started complaining about her job, her bosses, and her life; in fact, she spent the whole time we were with her by zeroing on her unhappiness, hogging all the attention and venting. I got the point. 😀
This started me thinking. Focusing on the negative makes people forget all the positive things (in life that make it worth living). Moods are contagious and spreading negativity and ingratitude to your fellow human beings should not be allowed. Unfortunately, it’s prevalent across all walks of life in our society. We are generally ungrateful folk.
Graphic courtesy of HBR
God even remarks on this phenomenon in the Quran in numerous places – in fact, there is one chapter dedicated entirely to humanity denying His gifts. He gives us a list of notable favors (on top of numerous gifts that He doesn’t count over there) that have been bestowed on humanity in Surah Rahman. For example, being taught to read, for the gift of life, for speech, for the solar system, for the flora, for space or the heavens, for the balance, for our ability to measure/ estimate, for our planet earth, for the fauna, for the fruit and palms, for the grains and fragrance, for the east and the west, for the two seas that meet but do not merge, for the pearls large and small, for the ships as big as mountains, for the end of all things, for God the Lord of glory and honor, for humanity’s ability to go in the airspace and space, for the reward for good deeds, for the gardens, for flowing fountains, for pairs (of two), for luxurious fabrics like silk and brocade, for good, for beauty, for purity. Obviously, the list is exhaustive…but we do get the point.
Yes, we should really count our blessings…I started a list too- this easily topped hundred blessings without any effort and this is still by no means a definitive list, there are probably hundreds of godsends that I still take for granted and left off my list…
Thank God
- For God
- For being born lucky
- For being alive
- For every year that I live past my birthday
- For my health
- For all my five (or is it six?) senses in full working order
- For my close knit family
- For my genes
- For being employed
- For always landing on my feet in a jam
- For everyday miracles
- For personal space
- For not having to pay rent
- For my family home
- For being able to drive
- For being able to afford and run my own car
- For being able to live in a city with amenities
- For living in a nice neighborhood
- For being able to pay my bills
- For being (relatively) debt free
- For being free and single
- For answering to nobody (but God)
- For living in a free country
- For being born a Muslim in a Muslim family in a Muslim country
- For not being born poor
- For not being born rich
- For being able to express myself
- For self-actualization
- For having no hang-ups
- For the ability to communicate effectively
- For being born in an educated family
- For having progressive liberal parents
- For my mother being still alive
- For being able to read and write
- For being better off than countless of homeless, ill, hungry, starving, orphaned, alone, needy, old, tired, desperate, illiterate, hopeless people
- For having simple wants (or rather for having enough disposable income to buy anything I want whenever I want)
- For having no personal financial liabilities (or interest-based debts in spite of a credit card!)
- For having an extensive wardrobe with loads of nice clothes, shoes, jewelry, belts…
- For being able to like myself
- For being able to respect myself
- For being able to look myself in the eye
- For all my good friends
- For being able to live my life my way without any apologies or qualifications or regrets
- For being happy and full of hope that things will only get better, they can’t get any worse! 😀
- For books
- For my collections (books, music, clothes, accessories, fabric, e-books)
- For (collective human) knowledge, inventions, discoveries, for the history, for design, for the past full of useful developments, for good precedents, for good traditions, for useful innovations
- For clocks
- For calendars
- For systems that work
- For order
- for tools
- For simplicity
- For elegance
- For medicines
- For a good education
- For ‘real’ knowledge being free
- For experience and exposure
- For travel
- For the world wide web and the internet
- For computers and calculators
- For generous friends and colleagues who can count and help me count and do math when I get stuck!
- For my hobbies and interests
- For being able to finance my hobbies and interests
- For my ability to learn new skills
- For new interests
- For common sense
- For being adaptable and resilient
- For chocolate
- For music
- For life
- For poetry
- For creativity
- for words
- For smiling, pleasant people
- For positivity
- For friendship(s)
- For the concept of equality
- for good ideas
- for facts
- For our humanity
- For food and moreover good food!
- For spices
- For perfume
- For flowers
- For trees
- For the four seasons
- For contrasts
- For never being lonely
- For being busy and useful
- For colors
- For good balancing evil
- For good people balancing out the bad
- For universal ethics and a moral code across all religions and cultures
- For justice
- for good
- For truth
- For beauty
- For love
- For balance
- For faith
- For honesty
- For harmony
- For generosity
- For kindness
- For consideration
- For manners
- For humor
- For logic
- For rational reasoning
- For sanity
- For art
- For writers
- For poets
- For thinkers
- For designers
- For musicians
- For artists
- For crafts people
- For engineers
- For doctors
- For teachers
- For scientists
- For cooks and gourmet cooks
- For great recipes
- For gardeners
- For beautiful gardens
- For architects
- For experts
- For being able to afford household help to do boring, bot-like chores as clean house, do laundry, wash dishes, dust, ironing
- For every-day comforts and amenities
- For good things in life being free
- For our planet earth
- For the universe,
- For time
- For our place in this time and space
- For our kids and future generations
- for hope
- for human imagination
- for peace
- for great stories
- for great people that touch hundreds of lives positively
- For people who make this a better world
- For people who actually like to make a difference (without any visible rewards in this life)
- For roads
- For human warmth
- For being able to smile everyday no matter what
- For empathy
- For research
- For cold water in hot summer months
- For our ability to store perishable food, (though I wish the fridge –and even air conditioners – didn’t come with harmful CFC gases!)
- For inventions that control temperatures inside our homes and workplaces
- For running water
- For clean, safe drinking water
- For nature and its intricate eco-systems
- For (the invention of) restrooms inside homes and workplaces
- For sleep
- For cleanliness
- For rain
- for fresh water
- for family support
- for useful animals and plants
- for cotton
- for leather
- for wool
- for Lycra
- for denim
- for twill
- for running hot water in cold weather and for hot showers
- for my favorite cup of tea (classic Earl Grey Twinings), walnut cake, lemon tarts and chocolate tarts
- for the sense of accomplishment you get at crossing out each task listed on your to-do list at the end of the day
- for Friday
- for weekends
- for job satisfaction
- for a job well done
- for interesting work
- for second thoughts
- for control
- for being able to snap out of it
- for distractions
- for being able to escape a bad situation
- For leisure.
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Is the glass half empty or half full?From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Is the glass half empty or half full?Is the glass half empty or half full? is a common expression, used rhetorically to indicate that a particular situation could be a cause for optimism (half full) or pessimism (half empty), or as a general litmus test to simply determine an individual’s worldview.[1] The purpose of the question is to demonstrate that the situation may be seen in different ways depending on one’s point of view and that there may be opportunity in the situation as well as trouble.
This idiom is used to explain how people perceive events and objects. Perception is unique to every individual and is simply one’s interpretation of reality. The phrase “Is the glass half empty or half full” can be referred to as a philosophical question.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_the_glass_half_empty_or_half_full%3F
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By Mayo Clinic staff
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http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/positive-thinking/SR00009
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― C. JoyBell C.
tags: inspirational-attitude, inspirational-life, inspirational-quotes, life, life-and-living, life-is-a-bowl-of-cherries, living-life, living-life-to-the-fullest, positive-attitude, positivity, the-art-of-life, two-kinds-of-people, wisdom-quotes
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/positive-attitude
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― J. Sidlow Baxter
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By Jane R. Elgass
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“Studies have shown that people want to be with those who have a good attitude,” Pam Wyess told participants in her Human Resource Development (HRD) class May 27. “In fact, for some employers, a good attitude is sometimes a more important consideration than skills. You can train for skills, but it’s difficult to work a bad attitude.”
Wyess, who learned a lot about attitudes and how they can affect one’s life during 11 years with the Ann Arbor Police Department, now shares that background with others through the HRD course, “The Choice Is Yours: An Introduction to Attitudes in the Workplace.”
http://www.ur.umich.edu/9900/May08_00/9.htm
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Just like your productivity is contagious, so is your attitude.
Are you a source of positive energy to those around you?
Or are you a downer…? Bringing all those around you down to your level of unenthusiasm?
A positive attitude can be many things.
What does a positive attitude mean to you?
Positive Attitude: Do You Have One?
http://timemanagementninja.com/2012/02/21-ways-to-define-a-positive-attitude/
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1. Remember that YOU control your attitude.
Attitude does not emerge from what happens to you, but instead from how you decide to interpret what happens to you.
Take, for example, receiving the unexpected gift of an old automobile. One person might think: “It’s a piece of junk!” a second might think: “It’s cheap transportation,” and a third might think: “It’s a real classic!”
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http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-create-a-positive-attitude.html