Negativity Detox
I recently read an article on Freak Revolution on cutting out the dark in order to let the light in. A question posed in the blog post was, "How can I be full of light and joy and peace if I bombarded myself with darkness and fear and ick?" Kylie the author, came up with the answer that she could not. After reading the post and reflecting on the negativity in my own life, I came up with the same answer. When I surround myself with negativity, it is hard to see the peace and light and joy in life. When I surround myself with positivity, the negativity has less power and just seems to slip away.
This concept hit home for me when I woke up Thursday morning after a particularly nasty nightmare about blood, murder and violence. In my morning pages, I reflected on what I had done right before bed and the resulting dream. What did I do just before going to bed? I watched an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Curious as to whether this had been a pattern, I went back through my morning pages for the past six weeks and noticed that whenever I watched an episode of Law and Order before bed, I would usually have a night of restless sleep or full of nightmares. Last night I decided to substitute Absolutely Fabulous for Law and Order. The result, restful sleep with no nightmares.
Reading the Freak Revolution blog post, talking with a lovely fellow blogger and examining my own habits has made me decide that I need to go on a negativity detox. For the next month, I am going to try my darnedest to stay away from all things negative and I am going to observe the changes.
How does this relate to my blogging?
You may have noticed that I have not posted for more than a week. This is because although I enjoy writing on healing and recovering, I have found that the subject is taking me to a negative place. A place where I shut down and leave posts unfinished. At this moment, I have seven unfinished posts that I cannot bring myself to finish because of the subjects they bring up. I know these posts are important because of the number of responses that I have gotten here, through email and on twitter. I will continue to write these posts because I think having resources is super important. But I am not going to write them as frequently. I am going to aim to have one or two healing related posts per month.
Kicking Negativity in the Butt: 5 Things That are Making Me Happy
1. The Vegetarian Food Fair. I love getting to meet with fellow veg*ns, going to cooking demos, listening to lectures and stocking up on my local favourites for reasonable prices.
2. Following @Traquilista's tips for Slumbering Bliss. Wearing a sleeping mask, applying lip gloss and spritzing my bedroom with lavender has made for much more restful sleep.
3. New Moon Kitchen Mackie cookies. They are vegan and gluten free and absolutely delicious.
4. Getting ready for fall. I took my fall clothes out of storage yesterday. I love that pretty soon I will be able to wear my favourite sweaters, jeans, jackets and scarves.
5. Farmer's Markets. Toronto has a number of lovely farmer's markets that are fully stocked right now with my favourite fruits and veggies. I love when I get to talk to the farmer who grew my squash or picked my peached.
i loved this post! i have been dealing with some negativity issues in my life recently that is holding me back from being my authentic self.
i look forward to your healing posts but understand completely why you don't want to post them frequently. just keep in mind that you are helping others by writing them which, in turn, helps ourselves grow. :)
hugs my friend!!
positively present says
Fabulous post!! I'm all about detoxing negativity from my life.... In fact, that's the reason I started Positively Present. I was determined to get rid of the negativity in my life and start living positively in the present moment (living happily ever now!). My whole life has changed since I decided I wanted to live my life this way. It's awesome! Thanks for sharing your tips!
PS - The word on the word verification is "grome" and it reminds me of "groan," something that's very negative. I thought it was kinda ironic! ;)
Ellecubed says
Thank you both so much!
Melita: Thank you so much for the ((hugs)). They were really needed when I read your comment.
I loved your post on being authentic. I think it is something that is oh so important in the blogging world. If you ever need to talk about authenticity and negativity, feel free to email me.
The healing posts will continue, just with a bit less frequency. I will also try to link on my twitter to other great healing resources.
Positively Present: Thank you for your comment. I love your blog and I love that it promotes positively. Your posts always put a smile on my face and are frequently starred in my Google reader.
I thought I was the only person who laughed at the verification words. "Grome" and "Groan are definitely quite ironic for this post.
Carolyn says
Love this post, doll! Keep up with the negativity detox and just know we are ALL there with you. Much love!
xoxo,
C
Kiki says
First of all, way to go for kicking negativity! That's fantastic, and exactly the sort of thing others have been writing about too. It must be in the air.
It's interesting to read that you haven't been finishing posts because they are dredging up the negative for you. After spending the summer working through The Artist's Way, I feel like Julia Cameron would tell you to use that power to write and not to let it get in your way. It's a creative force - not a creative force that necessarily feels the way you're used to, but a powerful creative inspiration nonetheless.
What do you think?
Ellecubed says
Carolyn- Thank you so much for the encouragement. It means a lot to me.
Kiki- Thank you so much for encouraging me to push beyond the negativity. I tried to push past one of the posts I was writing last night and had some pretty great personal and creativity related revelations.