REAL POSITIVITY: 6 ways to be realistic about being positive

At some point positivity exploded as a popular topic. Books, articles, podcasts, blogs, and social media posts are full of the sugary-sweetness of silver linings, lemons to lemonade, and the seeing clearly after the clouds are gone. 

Gross. 

At some point, it also become nauseating and insincere. Things go wrong, a lot. I joked on Twitter recently that for every good post I make, I have dozens of annoying, heartbreaking, inconvenient things happening in my life simultaneously. Dr. Jordan Peterson, often rants on how hard life is and how hard we work to try and ignore this to our own detriment. 

But...

I recently developed a talk for my colleagues on the value of real, authentic positivity. The type of positivity that is reflected in the Winston Churchill quote, 'We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy.' Do you know where I went to prepare for it? Among many resources, I found the best wisdom in the Bible. The same book that tells us, 'man is born to trouble' (Job 5:7), is the same book that tells us to rejoice always (Philippians 4:6). It felt real, substantial, not at all like sugar candy. The talk took me a lot of hours to prepare for, but it captured a real positivity that I think, well, is real.

Here are 6 ways you can be positive, really. 

EMBRACE GOODNESS

Living in a consumer-driven society has its benefits. But, one of the negatives is that we assign value to people and things based on their utility. That's a problem and it makes us cynical. It saps the positivity out of us. 'When we measure things only by their ability to produce results the world is flattened down to one dimension and all that is good is squeezed out.' Philippians 4:8 tells us the opposite. 'Whatever is good...think about these things.' Embrace goodness to be more positive. 

ELIMINATE HURRY

Famed psychologist, Dallas Willard, stated that the solution to spiritual health is to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. John Mark Comer wrote an entire book on the basis of that thought and it is worth your overall health to read it. The Psalmist in chapter 62 verse 5 says that hope is found when we wait for God in silence. We don't have much silence in our lives anymore and we do even less waiting. Eliminate hurry to be more positive. 

EXPECT DIFFICULTY

General Dwight Eisenhower when reflecting on the United States victory in World War II noted that the plans he put in place were rarely useful, but the process of planning became indispensable for navigating the complexities of battle. Positivity can be maintained when you realistically know that life will be challenging sometimes, maybe even a lot of times. Famed crisis survivor, Job of the Old Testament, said that 'man is born to trouble' (5:7). It is amazing how you can guard your positive outlook when you expect difficulty. 

ENERGIZE PERSPECTIVE

Craig Groeshel in his great book, Winning the War in Your Mind, said, 'If it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about.' The apostle Paul in Philippians (4:6-7) said that rejoicing always and prayer were two ways to allow the peace of God to guard your hearts and minds. Rejoicing and prayer can energize your perspective. 

ENCOURAGE CURIOSITY

Cynicism has a way of mixing into our lives in subtle ways and before we know it, we are cynics. Being positive just seems unrealistic at that point and we don't know how we lost it. Carey Niewhof knows how we lost it. We stopped being curious. Niewhof has an entire chapter in his book, 'Didn't See it Coming', dedicated to the opposite of cynicism, curiosity. Proverbs 18:15 tells us that an intelligent heart never stops seeking knowledge. Stay curious if you'd like to stay positive. 

EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE

I was on the phone with my Dad recently bemoaning some set of circumstances and wondering what God was doing. 'God is always up to something' was my dad's response. Sheesh, ain't that the truth? Moses in the book of Exodus (33:14) reminded the cynical Israelites that in God's presence there is joy. Want to remain positive about your life? Remember that God is present in it. If you don't sense that, openly invite Him into it. 

I spent a lot of time getting ready to present on this topic. My blogging about it has only strengthened my opinion that we need to hold on to our positivity, realistically. Andy Stanley feels that putting, 'really' on the end of any question has a way of uncovering the truth. So, how positive are you about your life, really?

Bite Down and Don’t Let Go is a collection of writings on relentlessly leading yourself and others well. Read about it more here.

Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teenage children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.