With a negative mind, you can become frustrated, hurt and eventually depressed by these sorts of things, but if you view them in a positive light you become a much stronger person for it.

Take my parents for instance – they broke up when I was around 14. At the time my world came crashing down and I didn’t really know what to think. I lost the constant in my life – my home no longer housed a family, and my parents didn’t even speak anymore! Looking back on it all – they used to argue at home and it wasn’t the best environment to be growing up in (don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t any hitting or drunken rage or that sort of thing happening). My mum was just impossible to my father, and my dad pretty much just hated his life. While the divorce was hard for everyone, nowadays my dad is enjoying his life, and my mum has the freedom to do what she wants. The whole thing has made me much closer to my sister, and I have become a much stronger person because of it. With time to think about it, I can’t see there being any positives from my parents staying together.

Stay calm and stay composed – look for the positives in the negatives that surround your life, and enjoy them. There are plenty.

Post from: r0dman.com

Positivity from Negativity

I tend to disregard a lot of things that people say. To me it’s my way of dealing with things, but to others they really take offense.

Take for instance my views on the world. In the past I’ve written about how I don’t really care too much about being cut off by a car while I’m riding my bike (so long as I’m not getting hit). I’m able to brush it off and turn it around on the driver – they are so caught up in their lives that they don’t have time to care about a human life. I see that as a really positive thing – rather than get agitated by it and let it consume my life, I’ve learned to laugh at them and their life.

I can see how it could be interpreted in a number of different ways. It could be arrogant, a bit sympathetic, or pity. Many people see me as a jerk, just out to belittle people, but in all honesty, I’m only trying to justify my life.

I feel so damn alone sometimes in my views and beliefs. Not that I mind – I’m a fairly solitary person being an introvert and all, but sometimes you just want to be able to talk with people and not have to have an opposing view. This is what has made my form my views on life, and helps me to interpret what others do or say. I guess with a lot of negativity in my life as I was growing up, it’s been a sink or swim situation. I went through the troubled little ratbag stage, and came out of it realising that if I didn’t look on the bright side of life I’d probably just end up wearing a black trench-coat listening to The Smashing Pumpkins. I very rarely misinterpret comments and turn them into a negative comment, attacking myself. I always look for positives before taking offense.

Misinterpretation of comments or words can completely change the meaning of a comment or a conversation. The medium by which the communication takes place complicates this issue even further. In person, things like tone or body language can help each party to interpret what the other party is saying. Via text or the internet we don’t have this luxury. It’s all up to the writer to be obvious and the reader to really think about it – often an impossible task.

It’s an interesting one – how does one effectively communicate to a point where there is no scope for misinterpretation? Maybe I’ll read up on that too…

Post from: r0dman.com

Misinterpretation