Misery loves company, happiness creates isolation

There are some people who have chosen to let negative feelings occupy much of their hearts.

They appear to have an endless supply of reasons why each of their successes is really a failure. It seems that not even a whisper of positive emotion is flowing through their veins.

Have you met this person?

And the thing is, their attitude is not some freak accident. It’s powerful choice within their control. They could free themselves from the tyranny of pessimism if they really wanted to. Their toxic habit of worse case thinking that freezes them into inaction rather than searching for possibility, this could be broken.

But it rarely is. Mostly because of a lack of love.

That’s the misconception about optimism. Positive thinking fails with a lack of love underneath. You can think all the positive thoughts you want and recite all the mantras in the world, but if your foundation is insecure, if you don’t truly believe that you’re worthy of receiving good, then whatever you layer on top of it will eventually collapse.

This reality of human makes me sad. But then again, for the few of us optimists who are still kicking around, it’s not our responsibility to pull negative people out of that swamp. We can love and inspire them, but we can’t change or save them.

Nor should we surround ourselves with them. Quite the opposite, in fact. Because negativity can have the downward pull of quicksand. And if we’re not vigilant, if we can’t discern where we end and their misery begin, then we might get sucked down with them.

Or worse yet, become lonely in our optimism.

That’s the paradox nobody talks about. Since misery loves company, happiness creates isolation. It’s the strangest thing.

You do all this work to protect your positivity, you never stop looking for ways to enhance this unfolding moment, and it separates you from others.

Because most people are negative. What a cruel joke.

All the more reason to find others who thirst in their souls to feel something positive. All the more reason to stay close to those with the ability to hold and identify with images of a hopeful futures. God bless the optimists.

They keep you sane. They consciously reinterpret their situations in a positive light. They constantly create a sense of positive engagement with their world.

And they know how to turn perceived negative attribute of experiences into a more hopeful light.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you discerning enough not to linger in any negative place longer than necessary?