Fake positivity and the Law of Attraction
*DISCLAIMER*
Before you continue on, please know that this post is NOT meant to be derogatory or call out ANYONE in particular in the spiritual community. This post is meant to express my opinion that we should be sharing the good times and the bad. We should be helping one another in the difficult times and celebrating together in the good times, and acknowledging both.
Let's talk about something that is becoming problematic in the spiritual community.
Everyday scrolling through our Instagram feeds we see photos of people who look like they're having the best day ever, of pink walls, pretty flowers, donuts, we see curated photos of tarot spreads and sage bundles and everyone is talking about manifesting and "good vibes" and positivity and how if you just stay happy, if you just CHOOSE to be happy, push all the negative thoughts away, you'll manifest abundance and happiness.
As a member of this community, I want to call BULLSHIT.
I want to call bullshit on behalf of all of you who know better, on behalf of everyone who tries their damnedest every day to stay positive, on behalf of everyone who has anxiety over these "bad" or "negative" thoughts and tries to constantly push them out of their minds.
Shame on anyone who solely promotes "good vibes only", because I guarantee you, those people have bad days too. Those people get pissed off, they get frustrated and it's not all rainbows and sunshine 24/7.
My question is WHY do we continue to promote this falsehood? Why do we continue to tell people all they have to do is stay positive?
WHY do we keep posting about the good stuff and not the bad stuff? Why are we so obsessed with not feeling the "negative" emotions and why do we think that if we do acknowledge or feel those "negative" emotions, that we're going to manifest bad things into our lives.
I will tell you at least PART of the problem.
The Law of Attraction.
THAT is the biggest culprit of why people put on the facade. The Law of Attraction is all about focusing on the good, so that good will come to you, blah blah bullshit. If bad stuff happens to you, it's all your fault and you could have prevented it.
Excuse me?
EXCUSE ME?
Oh yes, and this extends to victims of abuse as well. And that was about the page I slammed the book shut and chucked it into the trash. Where it belongs.
Because fuck that noise.
I'm all about taking personal responsibility. I'm all about not making excuses for yourself. I'm all about doing YOUR OWN due diligence and not leaving it up to anyone else. But I absolutely do NOT believe that all the bad things that happen in our lives are because we manifested them.
So you're telling me that sexual assault victims, victims of any abuse as children or adults only have themselves to blame? Because they manifested these events by "thinking" about them too much?
Sorry but no.
We can't control the actions of others, we can control our own actions, our own facilities. And that is the part to focus on.
Listen...worrying about not feeling the bad stuff, about having "negative" thoughts...is ridiculous. Sure, absolutely do your best to focus on the positive, to keep fresh perspective when you have less than pleasant thoughts. Ask yourself, do I REALLY believe this is true?
But rather than push away the negativity, rather than try not to feel the "Bad" stuff...acknowledge it. Give it some love. Work those Shadows, don't ignore them, don't try to push them aside.
The more you try to get rid of all that like it doesn't exist, the more it will surface.
Don't get me wrong, I know a HOST of negative nancys...of people who LOVE to complain and be negative all.the.TIME.
It's annoying. So if you're that guy, here is what I suggest. Snap out of it.
The more you sit around feeling sorry for yourself, the more you toss out the "well, it always turns out badly so why would this time be any different" crap, the more you will ALWAYS see the bad, the more you will ALWAYS look for the negative.
THAT, my friends, IS on you. Though I'm not saying we don't all deserve a pity party now and then, but have your tantrum, get up, dust yourself off and move on.
If you truly feel like everything is horrible all of the time, perhaps you should try to get to the ROOT of why you feel that way? Don't just swim in the waters of negativity.
I know this has kind of gone in a roundabout, but hear me out...talking about the bad days, talking about our feelings when we feel lost or like everything sucks, when we're pissed off or irritated...that is what we need, too.
We need to acknowledge the good and the rough times, it's called balance. No one has a great day every day, but we can try to make it so, and if it isn't it's ok to talk about it.
In fact, I want to see more of us talking about our not so good days, not just to complain or to vent but to make it constructive. To have others reach out and say, hey, i feel that way too. So we can engage and talk and connect. After all, isn't that what social media is all about?
Is that why we're here, having this human experience?
Again, I'm not saying we should all be complaining for the sake of it...I'm saying, you can take your bad experience, you bad day, and you can post about your feelings. For example, I had a really shitty day, here is what i could have done to make it not so shitty, and here is what i did instead, thus learning/solidifying this lesson. I'm saying take that experience, that day, those feelings and use them positively, use them to HELP someone else going through the same thing.
xx
-J.
Before you continue on, please know that this post is NOT meant to be derogatory or call out ANYONE in particular in the spiritual community. This post is meant to express my opinion that we should be sharing the good times and the bad. We should be helping one another in the difficult times and celebrating together in the good times, and acknowledging both.
Let's talk about something that is becoming problematic in the spiritual community.
Everyday scrolling through our Instagram feeds we see photos of people who look like they're having the best day ever, of pink walls, pretty flowers, donuts, we see curated photos of tarot spreads and sage bundles and everyone is talking about manifesting and "good vibes" and positivity and how if you just stay happy, if you just CHOOSE to be happy, push all the negative thoughts away, you'll manifest abundance and happiness.
As a member of this community, I want to call BULLSHIT.
I want to call bullshit on behalf of all of you who know better, on behalf of everyone who tries their damnedest every day to stay positive, on behalf of everyone who has anxiety over these "bad" or "negative" thoughts and tries to constantly push them out of their minds.
Shame on anyone who solely promotes "good vibes only", because I guarantee you, those people have bad days too. Those people get pissed off, they get frustrated and it's not all rainbows and sunshine 24/7.
My question is WHY do we continue to promote this falsehood? Why do we continue to tell people all they have to do is stay positive?
WHY do we keep posting about the good stuff and not the bad stuff? Why are we so obsessed with not feeling the "negative" emotions and why do we think that if we do acknowledge or feel those "negative" emotions, that we're going to manifest bad things into our lives.
I will tell you at least PART of the problem.
The Law of Attraction.
THAT is the biggest culprit of why people put on the facade. The Law of Attraction is all about focusing on the good, so that good will come to you, blah blah bullshit. If bad stuff happens to you, it's all your fault and you could have prevented it.
Excuse me?
EXCUSE ME?
Oh yes, and this extends to victims of abuse as well. And that was about the page I slammed the book shut and chucked it into the trash. Where it belongs.
Because fuck that noise.
I'm all about taking personal responsibility. I'm all about not making excuses for yourself. I'm all about doing YOUR OWN due diligence and not leaving it up to anyone else. But I absolutely do NOT believe that all the bad things that happen in our lives are because we manifested them.
So you're telling me that sexual assault victims, victims of any abuse as children or adults only have themselves to blame? Because they manifested these events by "thinking" about them too much?
Sorry but no.
We can't control the actions of others, we can control our own actions, our own facilities. And that is the part to focus on.
Listen...worrying about not feeling the bad stuff, about having "negative" thoughts...is ridiculous. Sure, absolutely do your best to focus on the positive, to keep fresh perspective when you have less than pleasant thoughts. Ask yourself, do I REALLY believe this is true?
But rather than push away the negativity, rather than try not to feel the "Bad" stuff...acknowledge it. Give it some love. Work those Shadows, don't ignore them, don't try to push them aside.
The more you try to get rid of all that like it doesn't exist, the more it will surface.
Don't get me wrong, I know a HOST of negative nancys...of people who LOVE to complain and be negative all.the.TIME.
It's annoying. So if you're that guy, here is what I suggest. Snap out of it.
The more you sit around feeling sorry for yourself, the more you toss out the "well, it always turns out badly so why would this time be any different" crap, the more you will ALWAYS see the bad, the more you will ALWAYS look for the negative.
THAT, my friends, IS on you. Though I'm not saying we don't all deserve a pity party now and then, but have your tantrum, get up, dust yourself off and move on.
If you truly feel like everything is horrible all of the time, perhaps you should try to get to the ROOT of why you feel that way? Don't just swim in the waters of negativity.
I know this has kind of gone in a roundabout, but hear me out...talking about the bad days, talking about our feelings when we feel lost or like everything sucks, when we're pissed off or irritated...that is what we need, too.
We need to acknowledge the good and the rough times, it's called balance. No one has a great day every day, but we can try to make it so, and if it isn't it's ok to talk about it.
In fact, I want to see more of us talking about our not so good days, not just to complain or to vent but to make it constructive. To have others reach out and say, hey, i feel that way too. So we can engage and talk and connect. After all, isn't that what social media is all about?
Is that why we're here, having this human experience?
Again, I'm not saying we should all be complaining for the sake of it...I'm saying, you can take your bad experience, you bad day, and you can post about your feelings. For example, I had a really shitty day, here is what i could have done to make it not so shitty, and here is what i did instead, thus learning/solidifying this lesson. I'm saying take that experience, that day, those feelings and use them positively, use them to HELP someone else going through the same thing.
xx
-J.
Comments
Post a Comment