Transforming the Negative into Positive

Can be a Practical Norm for Survival

By Apolinario Villalobos

A negative mind can cause stress and eventually result to diseases such ulcer, depression, and cancer. A person can harbor a negative mind if he immerses it in problems that are beyond his capability to solve, thereby, resulting to endless worrying.

While financial inadequacy can be a problem, those affected by it should think only of doable things that will give helpful results and relief. They should not wish for unrealistic opportunities that will result to disappointment due to failure in attaining them. The mentioned shortcoming should be treated as an inspiration to exert more effort, even if it means a simple job, for instance, with minimum pay. That is better than longing for a job with a high remuneration, but waiting for which could result to months of idleness.

Sometimes, injecting humor to make the negative more acceptable can work. What I did when I was a struggling student was considered myself lucky for being poor. I kept on telling myself that by being poor, I would be used to hunger and financial deficiencies in life later on, hence, prepare me for a simple life without frills. It worked as I am leading that kind of life today and I am happy and contented.

But life today, in a way is very much different from what was lived many years ago in view of the so-called progress brought about by the continuing transformation of civilization. Complexities are brought by the transformation that can cause havoc to the weak in body. Take for instance the pollution, traffic, and ever rising prices of prime commodities. To counter them, one needs to be resourceful in order to survive, or at least prevent the thinning string of patience from snapping.

Along this line, a Catholic who is driving and gets caught in the snarl of traffic can pray the rosary. And, since the Church says that indulgence depends on the sacrifice, then, the more rosary prayed, the more indulgence that he can earn. In the same situation, a New Christian can review passages in the Bible that can be shared with new prospects for conversion. Still, while waiting for the traffic to continue its snail’s pace, a composer can already put substance to the framework of musical ideas that may have been bugging him for days. Also, an inveterate smoker who has ran out of cigarette can be forced to endure such longing, and, perhaps be weaned from such vice as he gets snarled in more traffic on his way to the office every day of the weeks that will follow.

Do not be very negative about the meager take home pay. The plump wife can now have the opportunity to reduce by distributing half of her meal share to her husband and children. With a limited budget for grocery, the children in the family will now be forced to eat local vegetables instead of hot dogs, steaks and other carcass-based dishes, or they go hungry. With lesser trip to movies and malls, the family can now have more time for each other, and the children shall be forced to study their lessons, as no extra money is left for their trek to internet cafes.

The frenzied atmosphere in the MRT and LRT can also be transformed into something pleasurable. But first, one must make sure that he has enough time to spare. For the imaginative, the stations and the trains, teeming with commuters are classic worlds in themselves worth observing. Enjoy the different expressions of despair – rolling eyes, closed eyes, teary eyes, pouting lips, pursed lips, half-agape lips, and the nonchalant faces of those who have finally accepted their fate being squeezed in the throng that permeates with various smell. Those with weak olfactory attribute can find relief with a quick snuff of White Flower to counter the mind-whirling incomprehensible whiff that pervades the trapped air. One will know that he has survived if at his destination, he has been carried out the door by the sardine-packed fellow commuters.

Surviving, means going with the current of life, as swimming against it can be exhaustive and the failure to endure can just pull us down to the bottom. For this effort to survive, our resourcefulness can help, if we use means other than our arms and legs. With those means, we can be emboldened to finally counter the current to reach our destination at all cost!