Bad Words

I was headed back to Orlando recently on a flight.  I happened to sit next to a college professor who taught English.  We stuck up a conversation about teaching, students, learning and how universities are preparing for the future.  Or not preparing for the future.  But one thing the professor mentioned that stuck with me was the conversation we had about language.

It turns out that in the English language there are far more ways to describe unpleasant things than pleasant ones.  

In other words, we have far more ways to describe negative things than positive ones.  More words to describe displeasure than pleasure. More words to describe hurt than joy. More words to describe bad than good.

So, I dug a little deeper. Maybe it’s a construct of our English language only.  Surely there were other languages on Earth that had more happy words than sad. Right?  I looked at happiness assessments across a bunch of different countries.  Countries like Iceland and Bhutan and Holland always score high on the happiness index (whatever that is).   Surely, they are on to something that we American’s don’t know!

But it turns out that language for pessimism instead of optimism is not an English only construct. It’s found in every language on earth.

And that got me thinking.  One of the key tenants of The Creator Mindset is the language of positivity.  It’s what I talk about in the book which comes out in April 2020 in detail. The language of positivity is like a rich soil ready for whatever creative seeds you decide to harvest.  It’s the fertile soil of future potential.  

And there can be no creativity where there is negativity.

Negativity is the stuff of nightmare.  It’s the soil that tarnishes all potential and stunts all growth.  Yet why as people – not just in the United States but internationally – are we so inclined to use negativity far more than positivity?  It’s almost like we are inclined to gloom.  To sorrow.  Dejection.  Misery. Desolation.  Despair.  Woe.  Agony.  Distress. Sadness.  I think I’ve made my point: It seems no one is immune from the shambolic power of negativity.  

But fortunately, The Creator Mindset has three easy tools that can help avoid the dark and everlasting pull of cynicism:

1.    Nothing lasts forever  

Even in darkest times and the most challenging of circumstance, things can and will always change.  They might not be predictable – or even consistent – but they will change. This change gives us the creative ability to weather the storm.

2.    Choose Differently 

If everyone is predisposed to negativity, choose positivity instead.  And how we choose to use positivity creatively over negativity is entirely up to us.  Being aware that negativity is far more prevalent than positivity will help us achieve more balance in our day to day lives. Just knowing that we tend to think on the dark side of life will help us choose not to go there. 

3.    Remember Success.  

Everyone at some point in life has had something go well.  So, thinking creatively, remembering how things turn out right is important.  We spend far too much time looking at failures rather than celebrating success. Let’s stop for a minute when negativity creeps up and instead recall a success. 

The language of negativity is stuck in antiquity – unable to cope adequately with the demands of the 21stcentury’s creative economy which promotes positive, hopeful and optimistic solutions to modern problems.  Using the three steps above will help you uncover more creative solutions to problems that plague us.