contagious

It’s said that misery loves company.  Some might take this to mean that negative people have a knack for finding one another.  My own observations, however, lead me to the conclusion that negative people actually spread their funk to others.

They go about looking for fires to throw their wet blankets upon.

They bring their rain machines to parades.

They crash parties and …  poop them.  Whatever this might mean in the specific, we can be certain it isn’t what a good party needs.

However, I don’t want to talk about the naysayers here.

I’ve had much to say about choosing positivity.  About being kind.  Making time for stillness.  Cultivating a sense of wonder.  My hope is that some readers are going beyond imagining what such a life would be like — to actually taking the steps to live it.  But it doesn’t end there.  Becoming a more positive, kind, peaceful, imaginative and loving person is only the beginning.

The people I love and admire most have an almost magical effect on others.  When they walk into a room, the lights seem to gain wattage.  Angry people quickly forget what they’d been so upset about earlier.  Stick-tight people get to laughing despite themselves.  Driven and worrisome people breathe.

In other words, positivity is just as contagious as negativity.  Misery may love company, but I’ve found that people will choose the company of the genuinely positive over the miserable or mundane every time.

The genuinely positive hand out jumbo umbrellas at rainy parades.

They dry wet blankets in sunshine while gently blowing on the tenuous embers beneath, until they once more get to crackling with warmth.

They turn up the music and un-poop parties.

The exciting truth of it is that this isn’t all that difficult to do.  The hard part is doing the personal work, making the choices that result in becoming a genuinely positive person, as opposed to a negative or even a neutral person.  From there, it’s a breeze.  All that remains to becoming “contagious” — is engaging.  Going beyond your peaceful garden or your quiet walk on the beach, and getting in the mix with the real people all around you.

Germs don’t try to spread.  They just spread, when people get together.  It’s what they do by nature.

The same is true of positivity.  Only people won’t mind being in close quarters with you.

***

[Do you enjoy posts like the one you just read? Don’t want to miss out on the next one? Click the “Sure!” button under “The Best … Email” to the right and receive an email alert whenever a new post is published.]

---

PERSONAL NOTE: It’s my true desire to not just write, but to help people realize the power of choice, and to believe that things can change in immensely positive ways based on those choices. We are all in this together! So I invite you to start a tribe with me by sharing your reactions, thoughts, insights, questions — parts of your own stories — through the comments section below.  Someday, I hope to see real connections being made through the book and through this blog, but we all need each other in order to see that happen.  So use the power of your unique voice.  Speak up!

---

Did you enjoy this post? Are you ready for some real change in your life right now?

“The Best Advice So Far” is about choice. Filled with wit, humor and poignantly real stories, “The Best Advice So Far” shares collective wisdom through a new lens, as well as practical application for living like it matters (because it does).

GET YOUR COPY AT AMAZON.COM

(click the image)