Staying positive in a negative world. Is this really possible? If we really stopped and stood still for a second and saw how much negativity exists in this world, the things we see in the media, in the news, how we have are starting to treat each other, you would most likely come with no for your answer. Statistics show about 79% of people are disengaged in the workplace. They are just going to work basically existing. Daily we hear about all the political, economic and social struggles across the globe. It doesn’t matter what country you live in – you’re hearing something.
Many of us are struggling through life, working towards our goals so we can be happy – one day. You can turn on Netflix or Hulu or watch a video on the internet that reminds us of what our life is supposed to be like and what we should have. We desire to have a nice car, a big home, designer clothes, jewelry, great friends or a great relationship. We work to obtain these things, sometimes stressing over the debt we end up in.
If you’re not careful, you can end up stressed out, depressed, or with mental health issues. You can find yourself exhausted, with high blood pressure, suffering from obesity or other physical ailments. What if there is a different way? What if we could see our lives from a different viewpoint and create happiness NOW? I was able to interview Dr. Steve Taubman who shared just how to do this.
Bestselling author and world-class speaker, Dr. Steve Taubman, has dedicated his life to showing people how to thrive through their challenges. He also faced some of his own issues with anxiety and self-esteem. Having endured crippling anxiety and low self-esteem early in life, Dr. Taubman made it his mission to understand the nature of happiness and the remedy for emotional turmoil. His process to help you shift your mindset so you can thrive in high-pressure situations has transformed numerous lives. He teaches you how to experience true happiness and continue to thrive under difficult circumstances.
Why would someone dedicate his life to helping others find happiness?
Life was miserable for Steve growing up in a very dysfunctional family where there was a lot of conflict and strife. His mom had been prescribed prescription diet pills, which she became addicted to. During that time, being addicted to these prescription diet pills was the equivalent of someone today being addicted to meth. She could easily fly off the deep end, displaying very erratic behavior. She was also moody, very hard to be around, and very needy emotionally. Because of this, his father didn’t know how to respond.
Steve’s Dad couldn’t really handle his mom so he was always angry and unhappy most of the time. Steve was in a constant state of fear not knowing what any given day would be like. What would it be like when his dad came home? Would he get yelled at or hit? Steve’s household was an unpleasant place to be.
He felt insecure, anxious, and depressed most of the time. His sense of self was damaged. Since he did not feel so great about himself, he was bullied as a kid. He didn’t have the capacity or understanding to stand up for himself; he didn’t think that he could. For a long time, he thought very negative things about himself. When you experience this as a child or teenager, these feelings and emotions can carry over into adulthood. Dr. Taubman shared,
“I don’t think we ever completely lose those things. We start our adult lives thinking I’m going to make all of that go away. I’m going to change. But, we end up setting ourselves up for disappointment. Those things (thoughts) have become part of your neurology. You don’t necessarily change the thought or feeling, you change your relationship to it. So now when insecurity comes up inside of me, rather than me thinking I am this thing this voice is telling me I am, I am worthless, I am incapable I am dumb, whatever it is it just becomes an artifact from my youth that I can just send love to.”
Do we really live in a negative world?
Dr. Steve further explains, a lot of the negativity many of us feel comes from ourselves. It comes from ourselves and we project it out to the world. So how do we stay positive in a negative world? “The reality is it’s not a positive world or negative world, it’s a world filled with positive and negative. There is a great deal of suffering, a great deal of turmoil, a great deal of hardship and pain but there is also a great deal of joy, beauty, possibility, and love. It’s all there.”
I wanted to know, “It’s all there but it’s as if one side has more fuel than the other. Does it?”
When I started my business, Infinity Coaching, Inc., one thing I was always encouraged to do, was to hit people in their pain points in my marketing strategy. Take them to the deepest and lowest feeling. I struggled with this and still do. For a lot of people hitting them in their pain points can pull them down further and further. So much so they don’t want to work with anyone. Striking them emotionally is only a reminder, reinforcing how bad things are for them. It fuels the fire that your life is not good – it sucks.
It’s an old paradigm that needs to change.
According to Dr. Steve, it’s a tactic that exists in sales and marketing based on the idea of helping people to experience their own pain, so they have to get your product or service. That’s one way we are confronted with our pain. Another way is the media doing its best to really emphasize the bad and the dark. That’s one way to galvanize people’s attention because it’s something we resonate with. Our nervous systems are entrained to negativity. It’s possible to re-entrain your nervous system to be more magnetized to the positive. We can train our minds to think and attract more positive thoughts, creating more joy, beauty, and happiness in our lives.
So, we can transform our minds to lean towards positive thoughts and thinking despite what we may have experienced or may be going through. How can we do this? In my next posts, I will share with you some of Dr. Steve Taubman’s strategies for creating a more positive, happy life – it’s possible!
To learn more about Dr. Taubman’s writings and teachings, visit his website, www.stevetaubman.com.
Carolyn R. Owens has over 25 years of proven experience and serves as a Career Strategist, Executive and Leadership Coach. She is the President of Infinity Coaching, Inc. where she can help you up-level your skills, so you can up-level your income, career, business or life. Infinity Coaching, Inc. provides one-on-one and group coaching, organizational training, personality assessments, and a signature program, the Infinity Coaching Inner Circle. Carolyn is certified to give both The Energy Leadership Index Assessment and Myers Briggs Type Indicator Assessment. You can find out more he about both assessments and other products and services at https://infinitycoaching.net.
