knowabundance.com

Happy Monday!

The news about the economy is bad, donors are decreasing their giving because of fears about financial security and you are worried about meeting your fundraising goals for the year.

Wouldn’t thinking positive in the face of these realities mean burying your head in the sand?

Sometimes what we think is true is not true.

The idiom “bury your head in the sand” came from a belief that ostriches burry their heads in the sand when threatened by danger. Ostriches don’t bury their heads in the sand.

Sometimes what we think is true is not true.

But the news about the economy is bad, donors are concerned about financial security, you do worry. This is true. But is this all that is true?

Is your organization helping someone in need? Are your programs having an impact in the community? Does your work educate, inspire and connect people? Isn’t this also true?

What is it in us that does not allow the positive to co-exist with the negative, the good news with the bad news. The glass can only be half full or half empty – never just a glass with water in it.

We take a simple childhood story of a girl who played a “glad game” no matter what happened and make her into something we don’t want to be. We define finding something to be glad about in every situation as being “naively optimistic.” Positive thinking is sugar coating reality. We don’t want to be Pollyanna.

So instead we hold on to part of the truth as the whole truth. We tell ourselves that we are not focusing on the negative. We are facing reality. Even though we know that there is black, white, shades of grey and colors too. Even though we know that sometimes, what we think is true is not true.

Alongside this don’t-want-to-be Pollyanna habit, at the other end of the spectrum we have a desire to believe in The Secret and the Law of Attraction. Isn’t it also true that what we think about creates our reality?

There are hundreds of books, articles, websites and blogs which debate all sides of positive and negative thinking, optimistic or pessimistic outlooks and the what is truth and what is reality questions. We might have to wait awhile for a definitive answer…so in the meantime, you can run some tests for yourself. Look at the list of words below and notice how you respond to them.

abundance    lack
scarcity     plenty
generous     greedy
shortage     surplus

How does each word make you feel? Are there certain thoughts that you unconsciously attach to each word? Does your energy go up or down depending on which word you focus on? What happens to your breathing? Does it expand or constrict?

You can test this with your own words and thoughts. And then observe how your thinking affects your interactions with people and how your emotions shape your response to situations.

I know the news is bad and that not everything in your life either at work or home or in the world is perfect. Positive thinking is not about sugar coating reality but about allowing yourself to see that what you think or feel is not the whole truth.

Positive thinking helps create options that don’t appear available when you are focused on how bad things are and trying to predict and prepare for what other horrible things might happen in the future.

Positive thinking is not a magic wand to erase all of your worries or an end to all of your problems. Positive thinking is a tool you can use to shift your thought patterns, expand your perspective, lighten your mood, calm your anxious heart rate and relax your breathing.

Why think positive? You’ll feel better (which is not a bad thing) and have more ability to deal with challenges as they arise, including news about the economy, donor fears about financial security and your worry about meeting budget.

Why not play the Pollyanna game just for fun this week and see what happens?

Let me know how it goes.

p.s. And don’t use positive thinking as a way to feel bad about yourself or to judge others. That’s so not the point.