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Norman Vincent Peale on Positivity and How to Keep Social Media from Making you Miserable!

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Positivity Quote by Norman Vincent Peale

“The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

This is one of those quotes that’s ABSOLUTELY worth spending a little time alone with. I’ve been trying to decide, lately, why exactly so many people seem so negative these days. I’ve actually been thinking about it for a week or so and I keep coming back to two words…. social media.

The sarcastic, negative, and often downright mean posts usually get the most engagement – the number one thing most on social media are after. It doesn’t even really matter to them if the those who engage are agreeing or disagreeing, they simply want (and VERY often benefit monetarily) a large number of people to talk TO them and ABOUT them.

They crave it like I crave coffee… which is truly saying something, trust me.

Problem is, far too often people see the negativity on social media and, even when they register that it’s unattractive and nasty, they often take it offline with them. Suddenly their server at Applebee’s needs to be talked about behind his back because his hair was blue, they can’t give the woman passing them in a car a laughing emoji, so they ridicule the way she looks with their words… and on and on and on.

Can you imagine if the opposite were true?! What if things we spent time with affected us in positive ways? What if time we spent online, reading a book, listening to a podcast, watching tv, or watching videos more or less “conditioned” us to be more positive and happy offline?!

That’s why it is of the utmost importance to not just choose your friends wisely, but also important to choose your pastimes wisely. You could make a case that how you spend your time (which so strongly influences who you ARE) is even more important than choosing friends.

I’m not at all saying you have to give up social media. Personally, I love interacting on Twitter and Instagram. But the trick is, I’ve gotten really, really good at weeding out the ones who fill my mind and heart with negativity, sadness, and even madness. Those who seem to be hellbent on making others as angry, sad, or miserable as they are get the block from me.

Think about it, if someone showed up on your doorstep yelling and cursing about everything and everyone who they disagreed with, would you let them in to spread their toxicity and mood on you and your family? Heck no! They’d get the door slammed in their face… IF it had even been opened in the first place.

What I’m suggesting is this:

  • Even if the people you follow online are people who you usually agree with, if they’re leaving their angry fingerprints on your psyche, they aren’t worth it. Follow and interact with those who make you smile and who don’t give you extra weight to carry. The best ones are the ones who make your load feel lighter!
  • Balance time spent with social media (and even the news) with positive input. Think of positive, upbeat, encouraging input as healthy comfort food. The rest? Junk food! No way you’re going to be able to cut all the junk food out (like my personal relationship with fries!), so you need to find a way to balance it all out.

Reading good (really good), positive authors is an excellent way to fill your mind and heart with positivity. Positive podcasts, old movies, and other things that lift you up as opposed to weigh you down… that’s the good stuff!

Make each moment count double! ~ Joi (“Joy”)


The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale (Amazon link)

Follow the link for more Norman Vincent Peale Quotes.

September is National Self-Care Awareness Month!

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Quote About Accepting Yourself

Quote About Accepting Yourself

The majority of us struggle, regularly, with our self-esteem. Whether it’s our body, our mind, our age… or all three!… we tend to beat ourselves up over our perceived shortcomings and imagined imperfections more than anyone else would even dream of. If you stop to think about it, that’s madness, isn’t it!?! Wouldn’t it be far better (and healthier) to build ourselves up rather than tear ourselves down by inflicting harm on our psyches?

Like all positive change, it takes effort and commitment. Not only do you have to STOP focusing on things you don’t like, you have to make peace with them. THEN… you have to commit to keeping the positivity going. In time, it will become as natural as smiling when you see a kitten. September is National Self-Care Awareness Month and I applaud the timing. As we’ve all been focusing so much on negativity due to the pandemic, we need to flip the switch and start focusing more on positivity and on things we can control – us!

I’d love to point you in the direction of a wonderful compilation of 40 encouraging self-love quotes to help remind you of the importance of being kind to your body and mind.  While I love all of the quotes… and have written most of them down!… my favorite is below.

“And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I have been waiting my whole life for this.’”~ Nayyirah Waheed, Poet

Please see: 40 Body Positivity Quotes to Help You Practice Self-Love


You Can (Almost) Always Find What You’re Looking For… So Be Careful What You Seek!

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Perspective Quote

Short story to set the stage – even if it does involve telling on myself and my ridiculousness in the process:

A few years ago, my husband was away for a business trip. I’m not the bravest person in the world, so when my daughters began talking about something VERY scary they had read about one afternoon, my brain whispered, “Well, if this doesn’t keep you awake all night, nothing will.” I pushed the whisper aside and reasoned that by the time bedtime rolled around and the lights were off, I’d be fine.

WRONG.

As soon as the lights turned off, the brain turned on. It felt compelled to remind me of the “true” horror story. Being very familiar with myself and knowing what it’d take for me to get any rest whatsoever, I grabbed my iPhone and Googled, “Why {insert horror occurrence} is a hoax.” Badabing! I found explanation after explanation of why this couldn’t possibly have happened and found “holes” punched everywhere within the story.

I slept like a baby.

Here’s the tricky thing – Had I been a complete idiot and Googled, “Why {insert horror occurrence} is true,” I’d have found… you guessed it… just what I was looking for.

I’m sure you’ve figured out where this is heading, right?

So often, in life, what we “find” doesn’t happen by mistake or coincidence – we “find” it because, whether we realize it or not, it’s what we were looking for.  I see it online with social media almost daily. There are some people who seem absolutely SET on finding drama and stirring up stress and emotions. I don’t want to get off track, here, but what is up with these people?! I want things to be as calm and peaceful as possible… who, in their right mind, wants drama circling around them?!

Whether it makes sense or not, they search for it and, naturally, they find it.

I’m always amused when, after it hits the fan, they act shocked and confused like, “How did this storm happen???”

You did the rain dance, honey, that’s how!

By contrast, there are people (raising my hand high) who get on social media to be informed, entertained, amused, and (hopefully) provide these things for others. Again, what they seek is generally what they find.

Have you ever seen a 4 year old who is tired and cranky? He/she seems to be actively looking for trouble, don’t they? How like children adults can be!

This is a short post because the real trick is simply to get your thoughts flowing. You don’t need me to tell you if you set out looking for drama, gossip, and maybe even a little argument now and then. You don’t need me to tell you if you actively seek out calmness, harmony, and goodwill. You already know you – as well as I know my Chicken Little ridiculous self! I’m only here to ask you this – Is what you seek conducive toward your happiness and mental health or not? Is what you tend to actively look for constructive to your relationships or destructive?

Make no mistake about it, each of these questions has a clear answer.

We find what we actively seek… make sure you’re looking for something worth having, because you will find it.

~ Joi

How to Keep a Positive Mindset Everyday

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Positivity, a strange concept that we get bombarded with on a daily basis. We’re always being told to stay positive, but only ever seems to be the weirdly smiley people who are ever actually positive all the time and they’re really annoying, so who cares, right? Wrong. Being positive will help you to be happy. Keeping a positive outlook on life will enable you to do better at your job and stay away from those people in blue who wear upside down nurse watches and stick thermometers in places that you’d wish they didn’t. Staying positive is a lot more difficult than reading about it, but here are some ways you can stay positive all day, every day.

Cut Out Toxic People

We all know those people who complain all the time or are always bitching about other people behind their backs. These people need to go. They need to be cut out without a care for their feelings. People like this infect the minds of their closest friends and if you’re not careful you become toxic too. These toxic thoughts also stop you from being positive yourself and end up making you miserable, so say adios!

Don’t Complain About Little Things

As humans we love to complain, especially if you’re British, however you should really stop. It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant the thing you’re complaining about is, it is still making your brain think negatively, which is what we are trying to avoid here. If you’re driving to work and the road is blocked, say ‘oh well’ and find an alternative route. If you break a mug, say ‘oh well’ and brush it up. Don’t bring it up again to anyone, unless you’re just sharing the facts. Complaining about little insignificant aspects of your life is a one way ticket to Miserable Ville.

Focus on the Good

Things can always get worse for you, remember that. This is why you should always focus on the positives in your life instead of the negatives. Everyone has little problems that they can’t seem to shake from their minds and this is natural, but when you’re brain starts worrying about them, force yourself to think about something else, something happy and wonderful. Think about your kids, or your partner, or look forward to something exciting that’s coming up in the future.

Future: Good; Past: Bad

It doesn’t matter what has happened in your past or how it’s still affecting your present, you can’t change it, so ignore it and think to the future. Plan your future happiness and focus on the positive changes you can make today to ensure tomorrow is a better world for you. This is where you’ll really see the power of positive thought. By focusing on what you want and how to achieve it, you are much more likely to actually get there.

If there’s any secret to leading a happy, successful life, then it’s by thinking positively. Changing your mind-set is like going on a diet, you need to trim the fat from your brain and focus on the healthy goodness that is left.

Bill is a freelance journalist who specialises in writing about culture and the arts, however will write about anything that piques his interest including business, travel and lifestyle.  @BilboClark01