The O’Toole Chronicles: Power of Positivity

We are all too familiar with the doomsayers of our generation. You know too well who these people are. We are too often exposed to these energy draining, negative individuals, day in and day out. They start the conversation complaining about something and end the conversation complaining about something, and let’s not leave out the middle of the conversation with some carping about the earth being too round or the dog ate their homework. Getting the rosy picture?

It seems to me that more and more people are perfectly content with their daily spewing of negative thoughts.  If it is sunny out, it is too hot. If it is blustery, it is too cold. Too little rain, too much rain. Too much work, too little work. Too little attention, too much attention. You get the point.

These people, much like the Creepy Coupe in Wacky Races, always seem to have a perpetual rain cloud following their every move. It isn’t a real attractive quality to have and if you notice when this happens, the more, well-adjusted run the other way or find a way to quickly break off the energy zapping conversation and sprint to high ground, actually any ground would do.

So what are we to do about this growing social dilemma?

Perhaps we should band together, invoke the power of positivity, and hope that this becomes trendy and fashionable. Let’s see if we can retrain human beings to actually be positive. Wouldn’t that be cool?

We need to lead by example and we need to start and finish causal conversations with upbeat and positive messaging. Of course, I recognize that this societal ill can’t be cured overnight, but we can all do our part to fight to eradicate this plight.

Let’s start today by practicing this technique and see if it bears fruit. I have another tip to keep in mind as we turn the page. The very next time that you are speaking to a co-worker, colleague or family member, start it off with a positive note or compliment and pivot immediately to ask them how THEY are doing. I know another tough habit to break.

News flash—it isn’t always about you. I listen to far too many conversations where one participant pukes out tons of personal information and negativity as they monologue into infinity and beyond, with little or no regard to the person who they are speaking with. How boring can that get?

It is really funny (and tragic) to see individuals barge into conversations and launch into a one sided conversation about family, work, pets, or world affairs and many lack any self-awareness as they talk incessantly and drone on about things and talk endlessly about their lives, their misery and their pain points.

We are better than this. Let’s adopt a power of positivity and mix in a dash of self-awareness and we will be better for it.