BlissQuest: 11 Wonder(ful) Antidotes to Negativity

A different way to see a pink cosmos.

Listening to: The perfect video for today! Enjoy!

Bliss: Yesterday, late afternoon, I forced myself to leave the computer and go outside and just sit. I ended up taking photos, but that also feels like it has the same end result of just sitting: a deep calm, a noticing of breath and wind, a peace.

With all the political "stuff" in the air right now, it's easy to get caught up in a lot of negativity. No matter where you are, people tend to bring up something that has the potential to create discomfort, at the very least, and anger, at the worst.

So I think it's time to step back from it, out of it, around it...whatever directional works for you! It's time to extricate ourselves, those of us who know that there is more to life than this, that there is a much larger picture, and that there really is something more important awaiting our attentions.

But what to do with all that negativity that has penetrated our gray matter and our hearts? It leaves behind an impression like anything, and we need to work to get rid of it. We need to encourage our minds to grow some new connections, to put their energies elsewhere, so that we might get back into our heart centers and our creativity -- where we belong.

For me, the antidote to anxiety and anger and all sorts of negativity is a good dose of wonder, and here are some suggestions:

You know whom you're voting for, most likely, so why do you continue to pack in as much news as you can? All the paper news and the televised and radio news -- are you really looking to learn something or are you just excavating for more justification for your already embedded opinions? Just let it go. Just say no to it all. Don't start or end your day this way.

With that in mind, replace this kind of news with other news. There are a million and one positive sources out there; you just have to put a little effort into finding them. Look for news of kindness and innovation.

Also, remember to start your day with some music. It wakes you up; it gets your brain working; it gets the creative juices flowing; and it can completely alter a bad mood. Listening to certain rhythms can give a rhythm to your day. Try it, you might love it.

For a week (or more), why not try reading nothing but poetry? Remind yourself that words and language are more than just utilitarian tools of spin. Remind yourself that words and language can have real and true meaning. Words and language are only empty if we buy into their emptiness. Get your fill. Try this, this, or this.

It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably everyday
for lack
of what is found there.

--William Carlos Willams
"Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"

Watch a movie about Rumi! Five minutes into a similar film, I was suddenly inspired with the name of a new novel I know I will write. Feeling that inspired instantly dissolves negativity.


Take photographs. Yes, this is an old suggestion, but it's always a good one. But this time, try something new: get down on the ground and look up! Look up at buildings. Look up through the branches of trees. Look up from underneath flowers. It not only creates new and different and great photos, but it gives you an instant energy boost. I think it is very hard to feel badly about anything if you have your heard tilted up toward the sky. (It seems the reason for building cathedrals the way they always did. Does looking up like this release a hormone or something?)

Light every candle you can find, put on some relaxing music, and have some friends over for a glass of wine -- with one rule: no talking politics. You could even come up with discussion topics for the evening. Talk about ideas and art and dreams and hopes.

If you are lucky enough to have any museums nearby -- GO! Get your butt in front of some art. Or go see all those creepy and yet wonderful cases of butterflies that naturalists used to create. And the beautiful emptied eggs. (I am having memories of the Natural History Museum in Chicago.)

Go out to dinner with your loved one or a friend. But really go out to dinner. Go somewhere where they expect you to sit for hours and hours and really savor your food. Go somewhere with good music and just the right amount of noise to make you feel conversational.

Make sure to head out Monday or Tuesday night for the full moon. This month is the Blood Moon, and it happens to fall right near the Durga Puja, celebrated in India to honor the victory of the Great Mother Durga over evil. (How appropriate.)

Above all, simply refuse to participate anymore. Don't give into this. Don't contribute. If people at work are mouthing off, walk away. If someone has the radio on and the news comes on, walk away. If someone tries to hand you a political brochure, smile and say no, thank you.

You don't have space for this kind of thinking; your head is full of wonder.