I was on a bus the other day, with an angry elderly gentleman sat in the row behind me.

It was his behaviour that spurred on this random little thought piece!

Angry At The World

The whole 20-minute bus journey, the elderly gentleman chuntered away to himself, angry at everyone and everything.

He was swearing about the traffic.

Grumbling about the stupidity of pedestrians outside.

Huffing at the red traffic lights.

Moaning about the slowness of the bus.

Tutting at the other passengers.

Scowling at the loudly-laughing child opposite.

All he did was radiate negativity.

Can you imagine living with someone like that?

He was alone (unsurprisingly), so the only person on the receiving end of all that negativity was himself.

Sat in a cloud of doom and gloom of his own making.

I’d be willing to bet he spends a good proportion of his day watching the news or reading the tabloids. The product of decades of negative messaging.

Choose A Happier Life

I couldn’t help but wonder how much happier his life would be if he stopped to pay attention to the good and the positive in his life.

At his age (he must have been in his 70’s or 80’s), he’s consciously choosing to spend his last few years hating his life – how tragic is that?

Now, I’m a pragmatist – I’m not naive. I know the world can be a dark and frightening place. There is death and misery everywhere. People are living in desperate poverty, wars, famine, fear, disease, slavery, abuse, violent crime – I walk past a growing number of desperate homeless people in my own city every day.

I also appreciate the gentlemen may have had mental health issues.

However…

I’m constantly inspired by human kindness and compassion. By all the creative, innovate and entrepreneurial people who work tirelessly to make the world a better place.

If you spend your life looking for the negative, that’s all you’ll see.

The thing about expecting disappointment, is that you’ll rarely disappoint yourself!

Your Choice

An elderly man, well groomed, mobile enough to make it up the stairs to the top deck for a free bus ride in a beautiful city on a sunny day. Yet, he chooses to only see the bad, working himself up over minor everyday things he has no control over.

Which Beast To Feed?

Do you feed the angry bear, so it gets stronger, or you feed the caterpillar so it can become a butterfly?

Cheesy, I know, but a serious message.

Whichever part you choose to feed – be it the negative or the positive – that’s the part that will flourish.

You decide.

Feed the positive. Feed your own creativity and love your words…

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