From positivity to zing!
Posted on 02 September 2009 by Lucy
See below for an interview with my dear friend JJ. He has an amazing approach and “zing” for life, and people often comment on this, admire his approach to life and ask for his secret formula. This is of course filed under Expert Interviews as JJ is the most positive, inspirational person I know, a master on the topic. He has shared some of his insights below:
1. What is the key to your positivity?
I have been like this since the day I was born, it is a combination of good genes (Diesels tonight) and having a frame of mind that chooses to focus on the positives.
2. Your approach to people is very open: what are the main tools you use to make you like this with people all the time?
Believing in the goodness of human kind and the fact of treating people how you want to be treated yourself.
Also having enough confidence that I do not mind sharing myself entirely to people. I would rather put it on the porch and accept those into my life who know me and love me for who I am.
3. What are your three top tips for staying positive?
-Always remember there are people worse off than you are.
-When you wake up you remember that life is actually pretty cool, and be thankful for life.
-If there are obstacles they are actually not that big, they are very insignificant compared to those who have come before us faced.
4. Do you have a daily mantra that you say to yourself to keep yourself in a positive frame of mind? If yes, what is it?
When I wake up in the morning, I look at myself in the mirror and say”You go, hot thing.” Joking, on a serious note, if I am down, I do sometimes talk to myself in the mirror, and repeat to myself the points I raised in question 3. above.
I think that if you are feeling down, put some music on, and have a boogie. For me, I am instantly smiling as I am dancing, it really works.
5. Is there is anything else you would like to add?
You have to fight and work for positivity, when you get it, grab it and run with it. Everytime you hold onto it for a little bit longer, it is easier to keep hold of.
I love it! Especially the something else you wanted to add. Thank you for the words of wisdom.
I love the zing concept, I hope it takes off!
What a great approach to life. My Dad used to say “Don’t sweat the small stuff and everything is pretty small”
Zing!
One of the greatest discoveries of our generation is that anybody can alter their circumstances, happiness, relationships, health, finances and peace of mind, merely by altering their attitude.
Formula: Irritation + Time = Humour. Have you noticed that yesterdays disasters becomes tomorrows laughter. We sit with friends and family, and often laugh at the many mistakes, frustrations and annoying situations that have occurred in our life. Why not learn to "laugh sooner". Let your hindsight teach you to smile earlier, to see the funny side of your latest catastrophe and to enjoy every moment of every day.
Thanks Keith, in your opinion are these easily accessible techniques that can be learned and mastered without professional guidance? Either way, what and where are these resources? I have had some exposure to NLP which involves some of the principles you have mentioned. Simple reframing and anchoring techniques can be very powerful.
I personally don't think such tools/skills are widely available or perhaps it is a matter of them not being publicised enough or communicated in simple, digestible language so people can see this is achievable and available to them. Of course, I would like to be provide wrong on this one..
Good question!
In an attempt to answer this question (many people have asked me "how can I become more positive/enthusiastic"), I released this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtL8gTEuwvU
It is my belief that we are literally surrounded by the material needed to "re program" ourselves", and that we typically take the passive approach of allowing the loudest noise or most prevalent/consistent information to take precedence,
Over time our "hard drive" propels us in the direction of our dominant thought patterns and we often fall in line with the rest of the population, who are constantly programmed by the news (negative), the newspaper (negative), the radio (negative) and our work place (who mainly discuss the news of the day (negative)).
Because we "don't know what we don't know" and we tend to focus on our attention primarily on the things we are "looking for/expecting to see" (eg. when you buy a new car, everybody seems to have suddenly bought one at the same time), we do not seek out positive books, videos, friends or mentors.
Everything is already there, you just need to go and find it, get started and then keep going!
reading this post couldn't have been more timely! bring on the zing!!