Unfinished Kris

A positive attitude is an invaluable asset. I’ve found that things really do work out better when you attack problems or opportunities with a positive attitude. It’s a key to success and even to happiness.

The old cliche “If you think you can or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” is solid. I’d definitely wear that button…right next to my “Shit Happens” and “You can’t spell awesome without me!” buttons. – Oops! I just slipped back to the 80’s for a second – I’m back. What I meant was I would like, support, retweet or share that meme, quote or GIF.

Positivity is a tool that will dull quickly, though, when it’s the only one in your toolkit. The meme that comes to mind in this case is the one with a view of a calm sunrise over a quiet lake behind propped legging’d legs with crossed Ugg’d feet and a steamy mug of foamy coffee in the foreground – or a sexy mermaid or bikini clad under 30 yr old flinging her long wet hair silhouetted in front of a sparkly sunset-lit ocean – with a caption like, “It will all work out in the end.”, or “Have faith that things will work out, maybe not like you planned but how it’s meant to be” , or “Everything will work out in the end. You don’t need to know how. You just have to trust that it will.”, or even this pithy gem: “It may not be today or tomorrow but one day everything gon be a’ight.”

When I see memes like this, I always flash to any number of elderly homeless people I’ve come across, and I wonder if the folks sharing these empty affirmations with complete faith in their truth ever connect these two opposing ideas. While they are nice and comforting thoughts, from what I can see, not everything works out for everyone. Do the people it’s not working out for not have the right amount of faith? Or have they not been patient enough? Maybe that bent, dirty, weathered, man who looks like he might be someone’s grandfather is right on the cusp of everything being a’ight.

My point is, these sweet sentiments are a big fat lie, and actually really terrible advice. Things do not always work out. People take their last breath every day, never having made it out of a situation they hate – people who’ve found themselves homeless, people in abusive relationships, drug addicts, people who never attained whatever dream they had – whether it was to get away from or get to something. Sometimes, it never works out and only gets worse.

Okay, one more point: If you’re busy manifesting the life you want through positive thoughts sent out into the universe and positive memes sent out into the twitterverse, prepare to fail. (And get ready to take the blame, universe!)

A good friend of mine, who I truly love and respect (despite what I am about to write about her), believes in manifesting the life she wants. The life she wants is a no responsibilities, beer in her hand, toes in the sand, bills on auto-pay from a fat bank account kinda life. Sounds sweet, right? So, naturally, everyday after work at the job she hates, to manifest that better life, she drinks beer, and howls at the moon, and burns sage, and boils internally about the job, and shares “manifesting like a mother fucker” memes. But, she doesn’t take any action that might even accidentally get her to that most unlikely goal – like playing the lottery or the stock market, looking for a generous millionaire sugar daddy, planning a slip-n-fall at a large retailer, upping her skill game so she can get a better job that she actually likes or pays her more so she can retire early… nothin’!

To all my fellow humans out there, the universe doesn’t care about you… or anything. It doesn’t have any intentions for or against anything whether it’s good, bad or otherwise. For a positive attitude and manifestation to work for you, they need to be just a portion of your toolkit. You’ll need a plan and action on that plan, change – sometimes big change, often an exit from your comfort zone, and ideally you’ll still have space for realism. And, if you’re looking for some stocking stuffers this year, a few bits that may come in handy for any realism gun are ability, knowledge, experience, skill, timing, and luck – just to name a few. But that doesn’t quite fit over the serene meme background, does it?

I do truly hope it works out for all those folks banking on their manifestations and positive affirmations, but as my good friend the manifester always says, ironically enough, “Hope in one hand…”