The Quest

Much of the conversation of life is negative. TV is predominately negative, dramas about murder, news about natural disasters, crime, discussions about politics and the economy. It doesn't matter what your opinion is, or political position, the presentation of the information generally comes from a negative perspective. Even pure entertainment like reality shows focus on conflict, scandal, winners and losers.

TV and other forms of media are within our ability to control. All we have to do is switch the power off, or change the channel. Our daily personal interactions are a different matter.

Tomorrow, pay attention to all of the conversations you have from the moment you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Many of you will find that they are based in a negative thought or belief. Even this blog, in an attempt to stem the tide of negativity, is presenting the issue in a negative manner. I'm just not sure how else to explain it.

Hence the Quest, to change my daily conversations so they are mostly positive and eliminate as much negative as possible from life. Every time a horror story is retold, we give our time and attention to that negative energy. By so doing, we give it power to hurt us again. Sharing our unhappiness does not lift the burden, it spreads it.

Here is my plan:

1. Stop telling horror stories. No more retelling of how bad the accident was, or how rude the clerk was, or how terrible this thing or that was.

2. Listen more and talk less.

3. Do not gossip or listen to gossip.

4. Control my self talk. You know, that voice in your head that talks to you all day long, that tells you you are stupid when you make a mistake, or berates you when you are rushing and running late for not being better organized, the voice that scolds and whines and complains. The first step has been to stop them before they hit my lips. The next step is to stop them before I think them.

If I seem unusually quiet for awhile, now you know why. It may take awhile for me to figure out just what to say with my new set of rules.

Words have power, and the spoken word is incredibly powerful. We create our lives each moment by the words we speak and the words of others that we hear. My intention is to shift the energy of my life and the lives of those around me, into the realm of positive my changing the way I speak to others and to myself. Won't you join me on the Quest?

UPDATE:
10/30/2009

This is harder than I thought .....

Just today, I have retold my own horror story (or more correctly storIES - see the post above), complained (again I refer you to the post above), and berated myself for doing such. At least I haven't gossiped, or at least I think I haven't, and I have honestly tried to be a better listener.

More to come ....