Cultivating a positive perspective in the face of adversity

Love would still laugh, despite Covid. It is more important than ever that we stay positive. In Ayurveda we are encouraged to cultivate a positive mind-set. It’s not easy, especially if we have spent a lifetime focusing on the negative, but if we can catch ourselves and shift our perspective then it can be extremely helpful to our sense of wellbeing and experience of life..

Translated as ‘cultivating the opposite’, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 2.33 says, “when disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite ones should be thought of”. Thus when adverse notions take over the mind, Patanjali suggests that we look at it from the other side, so that we cultivate looking at things from a different viewpoint.

This is not always easy to do when we are in the midst of a very difficult time, but with practice even the most challenging and emotionally turbulent moments can become more peaceful and we can experience less mental suffering. If we are stuck in an attitude of fear or resentment then we can positively cultivate the opposite.

Of course when we ‘cultivate’ the opposite thought, it causes us to first notice and observe the fact that we are thinking a negative thought in the process and likely getting caught up in it. Thus we are required to take a step back and see ourselves being pulled in this negative direction by our mind, thereby creating, for the most part, our own suffering.

When we do this, we are more able to create space between ourselves and our minds, which can help us to see things more clearly and objectively. Then we can ask ourselves if we are overreacting and whether the situation really is as bad as it seems, and whether we need to step away from the situation altogether in order to stop myself reacting in a way that is unhelpful and causing our suffering.

This is a good reminder for those who are currently suffering with the speedy move into lockdown here in Guernsey, and are in feeling fear and anxiety about the ever evolving situation. We have to ask ourselves if us feeling fear and anxiety is positively changing things, or whether we are allowing more of our own suffering. Perhaps we need to come away from social media, or stop communicating with those who are feeding our fear and anxiety.

We need to remind ourselves that all is ultimately well, that the universe never gives us more than we can handle and that we are, all of us, ultimately held. This too, though, this notion of being ultimately well needs to be cultivated too, because it involves a deep trust, faith and belief that comes from the heart. In yoga this faith, śraddhā, isn’t a spiritually-based faith, or blind faith in something; it is a faith that we are going in the right direction, faith in our path, faith that our practice will lead to a life of ease. We may not know where we will end up, but we have certainty, conviction and courage in our journey.

In Reiki, one of the principles reads, “for today, do not worry”, This reminds people that there is a divine purpose to everything and that without this awareness further limitations may be created.  Energy used for worrying is, in essence, wasted as it brings no change to the situation.  Taoist sages declare that ‘any event in itself is neither good nor bad, it simply is’.  

Sometimes it is important to simply trust that things will work out for the best in the end.  What is beyond our control cannot be changed and squandering copious amounts of our energy on worrying may only serve to diminish our vitality and cloud our perception.

My mother in law always finds a way to see the positive in every situation, creating a silver lining in every cloud. It used to drive me mad because I was inherently negative in my outlook (depression thrives on it!), and struggled to accept her positive stance to the extent that I really didn’t understand how she could always be so positive, was she forcing it?

Having worked with this for a number of years now, through yoga, Reiki and Ayurveda, I have finally started to experience for myself the benefits of cultivating a positive mind-set. It is tricky, old habit die hard, and if you are inherently negative as I have been, then it does require conscious effort to catch yourself before you fall into a negative spin. When you start trying to see things from a different perspective, however, looking at things from all perspectives (almost like the notion of not judging until you’ve spent a day in someone else’s shoes) it can be extremely helpful; liberating for the mind.

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we try to stay positive. Falling into a negative spin serves no one, especially not us and our families, let alone the wider community. For some, the spiritual practice goes out the window when faced with adversity, further allowing people to drop into their fear, anxiety, victimhood and negativity; feeding a well trodden path, deepening an unhelpful pattern. Each moment gives us the opportunity to begin again, to change how we react and to cultivate a more positive mindset in the face of adversity.

This is the time to deepen a spiritual practice, in the midst of chaos, when we are thrown into unknown and reminded that life is one of uncertainty. We need to carer out the time and space to all out our mat, whether with children or on our own, whether joining an online class, or practicing quietly, linking breath with movement and positively changing how our future unfolds. For those Reiki attuned, self-Reiki is key for our healing and ongoing spiritual development, and sharing where we can with family and by distance with friends and the wider community.

Our spiritual practices, yoga, Reiki and Ayurveda for example, can teach us that there are infinite possibilities for us to grow, change and develop, and more often than not, it is our suffering that is the catalyst for positive change. We cannot change what has already happened, but we can change how our future unfolds, by the thoughts we keep and our potentially positive perspective. We have a choice. Our practice can help us enormously in moving from a place of suffering to a place of greater freedom.

This is a time to cultivate greater friendliness and compassion towards ourselves and towards others, to remember that we are part of a whole and that many are in mental torment. We do what we can, looking after ourselves and our own mental wellbeing, cultivating a positive perspective, and turning away from anything which dampens our spirits or allows us to buy into fear and anxiety.

I shall leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Ven. Ajahn Sumedho:

“If we are really allowing that which is most upsetting to be there, or that which is most boring, or most frightening, concentrating on it, welcoming it even, then we shall be taking an opportunity to be patient, gentle and wise…I look back over my life as a monk. I really resented some of the most difficult situations at the time, but now I view them with affection; I realise now that they were strengthening experiences. At the time I thought: ‘I wish this wasn’t happening, I wish I could get rid of this’. But now I look back with enormous gratitude because they were beneficial experiences.

Anguish, despair, sorrow can be transmuted into patient endurance, into wise reflection. Life is as it is. Some of it is going to be very nice, some of it awful. A lot of it is going to be neither nice nor awful, just boring. Life is like that. We observe: ‘This is how our lives have to be’. Then we wisely use what we have, learn from it, and free ourselves from the narrow limits of self and mortality”.

Love Emma