"Gary, what's the matter?", asked Penny. "Just feeling a bit down, Penny. I have tried so hard to maintain a positive environment and yet, I keep encountering negative influences that try to destabilise our right to a peaceful life."
"Gary, let's try this. Can you think of three examples of where you turned what started out as a negative into something positive?" I pondered Penny's question for a few minutes and then I responded. "Right then, Penny, this first example would be one that has impacted us most recently. Those new anti-social neighbours have caused much distress. Yet, even at their most abusive, I have responded with a calm politeness. I'm hoping, because they have been much quieter over the last week that they have learnt something from my example. And even so, they are an ironic catalyst that has made me realise that it's time for us to move on into a new home, a fresh start, a new adventure."
"That's most encouraging. Keep going Gary and please give me your second example." "Okay, Penny. I did a lot of volunteer work for a mental health charity. I demonstrated, kindness, caring and the power of empathy. Instead of acknowledging me, I was exploited and my own personal recovery took a battering. If anything, they reinforced my mental health issues. I left disillusioned, disheartened and ready to retreat back into my reclusive world. However, I met some decent folks through that mental health charity. Like-minded individuals who had also felt used by the charity. We have all remained good friends and two of them have now started up their own mental health charity where empathy, understanding, support and encouragement are vital ingredients. I am honoured to have been asked to be an integral part of that new mental health charity."
"Brilliant. Now then, Gary, what would be your third example?" "Penny, here is my third example of turning what started out as a negative and turning it into something positive. I was subjected to severe workplace bullying, physical, financial and psychological. This went on for over eight years. One day I could take no more and had a complete breakdown. I left that awful, self-esteem destroying, dead-end job that had transformed me into a broken man. Despite it costing me my marriage, despite it nearly costing me my life due to nearly drinking myself to death, I somehow picked up the remnants of this shattered man and rediscovered me. The ending of that painful and traumatic time in my life also brought back the dreams of a young boy. And the young boy, now a man, still a fragile man, recaptured the spark that fired his imagination. The spark, the power of the written word, had returned and I started writing again."
"There you go, Gary. Now how are you feeling?" "Penny, thank you so much! I'm feeling rejuvenated and I'm understanding that my life aint so bad. Negative forces will never be given permission to get the better of me. I have a choice and I choose the right to live my life the way I want to live it."
"Gary?" "Yes Penny?" "Gary, I have an additional example to share with you. I could sense how concerned Tristan and yourself were when you took me to those two different places that were full of animals and people. I also saw, when your shared sadness eased to shared relief, that you and Tristan were so close together, father and son, united in their love for me and each other."
Penny and myself are wondering if somebody reading this can think of examples of how they could or have changed a negative into a positive. You need not allude to them in a comment. They can be for you to contemplate. Peace and positivity, be with you. Gary and Penny.
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