Negative People

I often read comments about not being around negative people and surround yourself only with positive people, etc. I always wonder about that. There are people I don't care to spend time with, positive or negative, but it doesn't seem to be about that.

The Beauty is in the Contrast

Sometimes the most positive sounding people just don't strike me as being authentic, they seem to be trying to be positive to cover up what's really going on. It doesn't work though because the truth just somehow comes out of their pores as some kind of scent that you can't miss, and it isn't attractive. It can also be tiresome to be around people who are negative about everything and seem to wallow in that but then I don't see how that makes them bad, it's really just another way to be in life. I actually feel some sadness and compassion when I encounter this because I can't imagine what it would be like to live in that body.

Then there's most of us who are just doing our best and sometimes we feel happy and sometimes we feel sad and sometimes we're scared and sometimes we're excited and sometimes we're not. Life as it manifests is both positive and negative and the more we roll with that the easier it seems to be. Trying to create positivity when it simply isn't where you are in the moment is really a form of resistance so it simply doesn't work in the long run (or the short run for that matter). When we can make peace with where we are in the moment we are not caught up in making ourselves or anyone else wrong. What is, is. And this too shall pass.

I imagine some of you may be thinking that I'm missing the point and I may well be. I'm not saying that constant negative thinking is the way to go or that it's pleasant to be around. Here's another thought though on being around negative people; if they bring up discomfort in you then perhaps there's something in you that is calling for your attention, something you may have rejected about yourself that cannot truly be avoided because it keeps showing up in the people around you. Again this may well be a call to make peace with something you have not been able to accept in your life. Who knows how you will respond to 'negative' people once you make peace with yourself. Far as I can tell discomfort is usually just another opportunity to bring compassion and understanding to inner being and to wherever there is a call for it. 

When all is said and done however, why not spend time where you want to spend time and with whom you want to spend time? Whose voice is saying you 'should' do anything else? Is it the truth?

Namaste