Keeping it Positive

"You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind," noted author, speaker and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries, Joyce Meyer.

Sometimes this is easier said than done, when it comes to maintaining a positive attitude, since there are external elements that affect you daily which you have no control over.

We solicited the expertise of motivational speaker and CEO of Digita Global Marketing Limited Kemal Brown on how to keep in positivity and sift out negativity.

Brown notes that maintaining a positive attitude can be affected by your external and internal environment. The external refers to your friends and associates, family members or people that you interact with on a daily basis, as well as the experiences within your life which pour either positivity or negativity into you. Internal environment refers to your mind.

 

External environment

 

He notes that it is important to ask yourself some very important questions when it comes to the people you choose to associate with: Do they encourage you? Do they tear you down? Do they defend your dreams or attempt to crush them? Sometimes, negative persons come under the guise of trying to keep you from making a huge mistake. But they are actually projecting their own limitations on your life.

Brown notes that one also has to consider the things that they are allowing into their system. This includes the spaces you visit, the music you listen to, and even the food you eat - foods carry vibrations and frequencies, some being low, some being high, some energising while others are debilitating. Brown believes that, too often, we are concerned with what we feed our body and not enough on what we feed our mind.

 

Internal environment

 

He notes that internal environment refers to our mind and our thoughts. "Because mind equals matter, not mind over matter. To quote the scripture loosely, as we think, we are. Ask yourself what are you consuming through your many mouths - eyes, ears, lips. What books are you reading? What movies are you watching?," he added.

He encourages us to do an audit of what we think about daily. He notes that a true mastermind, masters' their mind. Brown believes that beginning each day with affirmations and speaking positivity into the day is a great way to start the day - a practise he lives by. He also encourages getting a mantra, listening to positive messages and music throughout the day that will keep you focused and help with your attitude.

"We are the captains of our own mental ships, we must take responsibility for the waves we choose to engage with, and while life, like an ocean can be unpredictable, we can always choose how we respond to the waves, either to fight them, or be swayed by them," Brown tells Outlook

 

Negative people

 

Brown notes that we have to be careful of the individuals we let into our lives, and eliminating negative individuals is simple.

"Choose to 'fade to black' as I like to say, meaning, choose not to be in the same places, choose not to 'hang out', choose solitude over infection. Not everyone you meet means you well, and you must come to terms with this truth. When you hang around negative persons, there is a constant energy struggle taking place, and you may not always win, meaning they will pull you into their negativity," he admitted.

He advises individuals to be strong, learn to say no, and learn to choose friends who amplify and uplift your moods and spirits. We must always remember that we are in control of our lives and have the power to eliminate or chose what we incorporate into it.

There are some people that we cannot avoid for example persons in the workplace. He adds that we can get headphones to bloc out their drivel or request to be seated elsewhere so that you can work more effectively.

Here are a few tips to cultivate a positive mind:

1. Keeping a gratitude diary - Things you are thankful for.

2. Meditation and affirmations.

3. Saying no to experiences and people who hold you back and make you feel bad.

4. Taking constructive criticism in stride but rejecting those who bash and meander.

5. Believing in yourself, through cultivating self-esteem.

"If we believe we can do something we will, a positive mind will yield a positive life, this does not mean that bad thing with not happen, what it does mean is that you live from a space of gratitude, not entitlement. The law of attraction is real and this is why person's who say they can't, won't. Whereas those who choose to face adversity and keep pushing with a fundamental belief in their ability to overcome great odds and achieve even great ends do," says Brown.