Practicing forgiveness, along with compassion and love, will fortify your positivity and inner peace.
By Emil Nazaryan
It’s a glorious morning! You wake up to singing birds, a ray of sunshine resting on your face. You treat yourself to a warm cup of delicious coffee and recite your favorite happy song in your head. You feel positive and happy. You are ready to conquer the world. It feels like nothing can bring you down. Life is amazing!
When you get to work, the first thing out of your coworker’s mouth goes something like this: “Did you see on the news that five people were shot dead last night?” The next coworker remarks: “Gas prices have gone up by a dollar! This is just outrageous!” The third one storms in and complains about how horrible the traffic was that morning. The fourth one reminds you that it’s Monday, and that you have to go through the entire week just to get to Friday. Suddenly, you spill your coffee on your brand new shirt. To top it all off, your boss yells at you for not completing your project on time.
By this time you have completely forgotten about the beautiful morning. The smile that was hovering on your face is gone. The happy song in your head is replaced by thoughts of anger, frustration and worry. You can’t wait to go back to sleep tonight in hopes of a better tomorrow.
Does this scenario sound familiar? In a nutshell, it’s a case of your environment dragging you down into negativity. The environment can be your family members, your friends, coworkers and even people in public places.
A thought is starting to arise in your mind. “I see where you are going with this, but there is nothing I can do to change my environment and people.” In a sense, you are right! You can’t change them. However, you can change yourself. And when you change, your surroundings can’t help but conform to your new attitude. It can be done. It’s done every day. How do I know this? You guessed it! From personal transformation.
“Yes, but…” you may say “I often feel positive, but when I do others shut me down.” What’s your reaction to that? What is it exactly that brings you down? Becoming defensive? Angry? Feeling resentment towards that person for dragging you down from your high? Blaming them for ruining your day?
Now pay close attention here because this may be life changing: The reason you feel negatively affected by other people is because you are not aware of your secret weapon yet, the most powerful one indeed. This power is a gift given to you by God, and it’s within you, within all of us. It stays dormant deep inside until it is discovered and used. The name for this transformative weapon is FORGIVENESS coupled with compassion and love. When you forgive, others lose all power over you! Read the preceding sentence again, contemplate it, feel it. Put all reason aside and intuitively comprehend the full might behind those words. Now marvel about the implications!
With this understanding, you can take additional actions to fortify your positivity and inner peace. Intentionally plan your day to stay under positive influences. Place mottos and affirmations in your physical environment. Set calendar reminders on your phone throughout the entire day to deliver empowering messages to yourself. Get associated with more positive people. Listen to podcasts, motivational seminars and inspiring audiobooks while you drive or perform mechanical tasks. Keep on keeping on day in and day out.
A question invariably arises. “But what if my family members or close people are the ones that are negative? I’m not going to get rid of them, am I?” It’s a tough question, and it has merit. How can this be overcome?
When you change and become more positive, you may notice initial distancing arising between you and your circle with a negative attitude. They start feeling that you’re not their tribe any more. Don’t worry. This is a natural part of the growth process. Keep using forgiveness and love for them as your defense. The people that truly love you and care about you will hang around. In fact, they may get so inspired by the changes in you that they will subtly change themselves. And the ones that fall off…just wish them well!
Congratulations! You have learned of your inborn power today, and I hope you start using it to transform your life and the lives of others. Do you see that you’re not quite the same person now as you were before reading this article? Next time you think it’s your environment keeping you down, remember my advice: Other people have been where you are now, and they have overcome the obstacles you are facing now. If it can be done by others, why can’t it be done by you?
Emil Nazaryan is a motivational writer and a contributor to the monthly Motivational Corner column of HR Realtor Magazine. He has undergone a spiritual transformation which has led the way to sharing the insights he has experienced with the others. He is well acquainted with all major spiritual traditions of the world, but it is the direct experience of the essence of these teachings that is responsible for the altered life outlook and the motivational articles that stem this. In his daily life Emil is a successful REALTOR and he resides in Norfolk, VA, with his wife and two children. Contact him by email at emil.rw@gmail.com.