THRIVING IN A TOXIC ATMOSPHERE

by Hank Trisler

My email tells me that President Obama is driving us all to hell in a handbasket. He's screwed up healthcare and is swamping us under an avalanche of illegal aliens.

Congress is passing all manner of laws from which they are exempt. 

Global warming is melting the icecaps and threatening to submerge our very continents.

Those parts left sticking up will soon be rendered uninhabitable by the chemtrails of toxic materials being laid down daily by jet aircraft.

My morning paper tells me that the City of San Francisco is going to boycott the state of Arizona because of an immigration law they just passed.

What the hell is going on? Are these people all nuts? Is there no good news anymore? I feel like I'm wallowing in a sea of negativity and this is not particularly good, as I have a business to run. I haven't time for all this angst. I can't afford the luxury of stinking thinking.

What am I going to do? What are you going to do? How can we thrive in this toxic atmosphere?

Speaking only for myself, I'm going to severely limit my exposure to negative information. Yes, I know "denial" is not a river in Egypt, but I just can't continue to stand here and get splattered with crap.

As regards every piece of information that comes to me, I'm going to ask myself, "Can I do anything about this?"

Much of the data inundating me is completely beyond my control. Yes, Obama is ruining the country, but damn it we elected him and we have to let him run his course, like a bad case of the flu. 

There is absolutely nothing I can do about chemtrails. Write my elected representatives? Surely you jest. These poor bastards are in worse shape than the rest of us, just trying to hold onto their jobs. They can't do anything and probably wouldn't if they could.

When I have determined there is nothing I can do, that's exactly what I'm going to do. NOTHING! I'm going to do nothing and I'm not going to let some clown make me feel guilty about it.

The next question is, "Should I do something about it?" In the past, when I have gotten a negative email, along with a request for some futile action, I have forwarded it along to a select group of people whom I would seemingly like to make as miserable as I am. NO MORE.

The only emails I'm forwarding will have to do with puppies and kittens and funny jokes. I'm not only going to focus on making myself feel better, but spreading the good feelings to those around me.

I'm going to call some people with whom I have not spoken in a while and tell them what they mean to me. Tell them how important they are. It may shock and frighten them, but that's their problem.

Does this make any sense to you? Have you any methods for dealing with negativity that you'd be willing to share? Please consider this your forum to do so.