(FORCED) POSITIVE THINKING
– A Toxic Fad
Have you ever shared your issues with someone and in reply heard, “Oh C’mon, you are overthinking and being too negative. Think positive.”? I can already hear you say “YES”.
So, here we are, living in a world of fads. Fad of using dominating abbreviations (Lol, Asap, Ttyl etc.), of taking selfies, of gaming, of putting up Instagram stories and so on……., not really paying attention to whether it really aligns with our innerself or not. Amongst all such fads, one of the most toxic yet trending fad today is “Forced Positive Thinking.”
Why Toxic?
We all get bombarded with negative thoughts almost all the time and it doesn’t really feel great! If this “not so good” feeling persists for a considerable time, it can lead to a state of dis-ease.
However, putting up a veil of positive thinking on this underlying negativity does not create magic i.e. negative thinking and negative emotions do not get uprooted, they still exist.
“One thing you can’t hide – is when you’re crippled inside.”
– JOHN LENNON
Let’s understand it this way – There is a beautiful garden of life, full of gorgeous flourishing plants and flowers of happiness and joy. Now, a negative thought is like a seed sown in the soil of the same garden, that has the potential to not only grow into a toxic plant but also harm the neighboring plants, if provided a conducive environment (aka enough nurturance).
This becomes a problem when this seed of negative thought, grows into its full form.
In such a case, forcing oneself to think positive, is like cutting the toxic plant from the surface or from just above the ground, which makes one feel that the toxic plant has been removed. But, this is just sheer ignorance; the truth is that the roots of the plant still exist and, if provided with the same conducive atmosphere, consciously or inadvertently, the growth of this plant is triggered again and this time, with greater toxicity, which can even kill the neighboring plants of joy and happiness.
That being said, how many times do we actually bother to find out the root cause of why we feel the way we do, so that it can be healed? Almost zero…right? Instead of introspecting and looking deeper into ourselves, we start running the rat race of so called “Positive Thinking”, completely unaware of whether or not this approach will help us reach the finish line of problem resolution.
Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.
The bottom line is don’t suppress your negative emotions with forced positive thinking, that’s like a hammer in the nail. Instead, acknowledge them, feel them and heal them through appropriate means (some of which could be meditation, therapy, dance, music etc.); as your so called negative feelings are a knocking, from the inside, by an unhealed part of yours that wants to be heard and healed. Listen to your wounded self and heal it appropriately, that will eventually open doors to a renewed and blissful life.
So, let us all initiate the process of creating a society where negative thinking is no more scorned upon. Let us provide a non judgmental listening to each other. And of course, let this process begin with oneself i.e. not criticizing self for feeling negative……as after all, charity does begin at home 