Friday, May 24, 2013

On Thinking - Speaking Positively

On Jewish blogs, of the personal kind, often enough they invoke emotional negativity, an item I here briefly address.

The person is - that which he says. What comes of of one's mouth - defines that person.

For example, it says
חכם מה הוא אומר and it says
רשע מה הוא אומר

Don't read these as questions, but as assertions, namely:
A wise man (or an evil one) can be determined by
- what comes out of his mouth. Put a comma after the word
חכם or after the word רשע.

For example, a young lady wrote,
"I was stuck in a rut. ... I was stuck in my rut and I didn’t know how to get out."

If she says she's in a rut, she is, by virtue of having said so. If she didn't, that's because she decided not to say it because she can get out of it. The Rebbe said, "Think good and it will be good". If you speak in negativity, you're DOING negativity. Speaking (or writing the talk) is doing.

You might argue, "Yes, but don't we have emotions that are the opposite of being happy." And, that being so, they are real and therefore can be spoken of.

The emotions might be real, indeed, but the speaking out of them follows a decision to air them. That decision determines who you are. Keep the emotions inside, away from view, and you will note that you are now thinking positively. Speak them out into the breeze, and you will have defeated your wish to remain positive, because you've relinquished your control over the underlying factors. Keeping them inside gives you strength to ward off the surrender. You will, of course, then be thinking of ways to remove or minimize the offending circumstances, and thereby you will have attained mastery of them.

If problems arise and seem unbearable, the person can ask for help. That is not weakness, nor is it negative.

The Rebbe's dictum is in this same vein. Thinking good does not deny emotional traumas. It just says, use them to your advantage by climbing over and above them, by figuring ways to triumph over the negativity. Think good and, indeed, it will be good!

4 comments:

WomanHonorThyself said...

you are what u think ultimately..and I think you are a kiddush Hashem...

Maggie Thornton said...

Is it okay if I still defame John McCain's liberalism every chance I get? I consider myself a positive person but am not so certain since November 2012.

http://maggiesnotebook.com
Maggie@MaggiesNotebook

in the vanguard said...

Maggie, To point out where others belie their Republican heritage, as the gentleman you mention, serves a positive purpose. The more we can supplant these politicians, who do not yet realize they undermine the country's values, with solid conservative voices, the better we'll all have it. After all, to defame is not to slander, is it?

Maggie Thornton said...

Good point: to defame is not to slander. I'm not sure McCain does not realize what he's doing. He's preserving his power and the power of those he is always reaching across the aisle to. People like McCain do not give up easily (as witnessed by his brave time as a POW). It's all about power, and little about values (IMHO).

http://maggiesnotebook.com
Maggie@MaggiesNotebook

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