Focusing on the positive can help relations

Concert goers to hip-hop/jazz/funk/reggae artist Micheal Franti and Spearhead’s recent appearance at Spokane’s Knitting Factory as part of his “Power to the Peaceful” tour were treated to over two-and-a-half-hours of danceable music with good vibes.

Franti told his audience at one point that only about 10 percent of an individual’s personality involves negativity, while the remaining 90 percent is all about doing good things for others. And yet, we tend to let this 10 percent influence our interactions with others.

For instance, when someone does something incorrect at work, our critique of that person can be derived more from the mistake than the other 90 percent of good work that person has done.

This happens a lot in life. We see negative images and reports on the news about people, places and things and that tends to be the driving force behind the impressions we develop of these people, places and things as a whole.

But this wouldn’t be accurate. It doesn’t take into account the 90 percent of good attributes taking place which we don’t hear about or see.

In fact, if you follow media outlets, all you will ever hear are reports about the 10 percent that’s negative. It would be nice to hear more about the other 90 percent of good things that go on in this world — but unfortunately, that’s not what drives news ratings.

The good news is this situation of letting the negative in our world dominate our view is entirely controllable. We are the ones who make the decisions about how much this viewpoint will dictate the path of our lives.

Albert Einstein put it this way: “The most important decision we make is whether we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”

Another one might be “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” because it is often the insignificant that we allow to become bigger and more influential than it should be. Still others stem from Bible passages about worry: worrying about tomorrow, about clothes and food and how much worrying adds to ones’ lifespan — which is not much.

If anything, worrying about things, letting the small stuff get to us and being dominated by negativity probably detracts from our existence. It takes a lot of energy to be angry and hate others — but it’s easy to be happy and thankful, something that music conveys well.

There will likely always be violence and negative things taking place around us, it’s just a factor of our existence. But there are those who seek to use this to instill anger and fear in us as a means of control, as a way to make themselves more powerful over our lives than they really should — or deserve to — be.

But we can control it, if we make a conscious, concerted effort to recognize this use of power for what it is, and refuse to follow along. For instance, when someone brings up something negative about a politician or candidate you support, instead of countering with a negative attribute about their preferred individual, look for and point out something positive.

It might not change that person’s view, but it might soothe yours. And if that positive outlook stays with you, it might rub off on someone else down the line.

And besides, there’s always some good, positive music out there to listen to and enjoy.