THE IMPACT OF NEGATIVITY

What a valuable piece of advice. I know that I have difficulty with having negative people around me - it always leaves me feeling exhausted! It's like they suck my life blood out of me as well as all of my energy - very draining I must say! I try and avoid them where possible! Mixing with 'like minded people' is good for you, not only in terms of supporting one another in bringing light out of the darkness - it's also important in terms of your business and the kinds of decisions that you make with regards to how the business is run.


Mixing with people who understand what it is that you are going through, will be of huge benefit to you in the long run. The moral support as well as advice will stand you in good stead!


The impact of negativity
Rinus le Roux
31 May 2007 at 15h55


Recently I had the opportunity to conduct one of those informal experiments on how easy or how difficult it is to maintain a positive mindset. Circumstances put me in the company of two extremely negative people. You know, the kind of people whose major topics of conversation centred around:

Stress
Anger
Injustice
Jealousy
Frustration
Incompetence


Those and many other similarly negative issues. By the end of that day I felt truly uncomfortable, even irritated with myself and with the environment I was in. The next day I found myself involved in a huge argument over a totally insignificant issue, with someone I really had no issue with.


I realised that my "association" with those negative people had rubbed off on me
How could that be, I wondered, since I consider myself to be one of the most positive people I know? The experiment had begun without my knowing it. Can you remain positive when the people around you are negative? Not a question to be taken lightly since the world we live in often seems so negative. The answer is a qualified "Yes".


Yes, it is possible to be positive in a negative environment, but it is difficult. However, this is no excuse to give up and blame your environment for your negativity since it takes no account of the role you can play in changing that environment as well as your own and other people's perception of it. How then can good triumph over evil? How can we become the bearers of light rather than darkness?


Consider this: Without darkness, light would have no impact. It is when you choose to stand for the good, to eliminate negativity, to fight injustice, to refrain from judgment and hatred, that your life becomes valuable. We know that it is really hard to be positive in a negative environment, yet it is just such an environment that gives us the opportunity to shine and to do what is right and good for ourselves, for the people we love, for the broader society in which we live and to endeavour to change our environment to a positive one.


The challenge lies in associating more and more with positive people so that we can gain strength from each other and together go out into the darkness and shine