Creative Thinking: When the screen goes ‘negative’

I was sitting at my computer, watching a documentary on YouTube. Everything was fine, the topic was interesting, the images were perfect, the colors were bright. Then I moved sideways to pick up a paper that had fallen off my desk and ... everything changed. From the new position I was in, the screen was not showing clear images any more. It had gone ‘negative,’ like a film not yet developed. I could not see anything properly because my perspective had changed. Was it the computer’s fault? Ridiculous.
A computer only shows you either what you have programmer it to display or what you are capable of seeing. Therefore, did I have the right to get upset with it? Certainly not! It was my own position that presented me with an imperfect, almost unrecognizable picture of what was being shown. So, if you sit properly in front of the screen, you will have a clear, enjoyable vision. Shift sideways, and not only will you perceive improper images, you will also feel displeased because you won’t be able to understand the meaning of the program you are watching.
Exactly the same happens in your life. When you look at the world from the right perspective, you are able to see the good there is, you succeed in dealing with others in the best way, you are kind, understanding, flexible. You can perceive their motivations, the reasons why they behave the way they do. As a consequence, you become more lenient toward their “faults.” After all, no one is perfect, is he? And you aren’t, either!
Choosing this perspective, you acknowledge your being an individual like everybody else. Instead of feeling separate, detached from the outside world — as you usually do — you experience a sort of connection because you realize that, after all, all mankind is “in the same boat,” i.e. it is having similar types of experiences: Joys and sorrows, highs and lows, laughter and tears. But if, on the other hand, you go on looking around you with a “me, me” attitude, you will behave selfishly, you will interpret the world in a distorted way, because your standpoint is wrong.
You “see” according to where you stand, according to a correct or incorrect point of view. None are “wrong,” because they both depend on your position. But one certainly more positive than the other. Which one do you think will make your life happier? If you take the time to analyze your usual attitude, you may learn something more about your true nature and the way you usually manifest it. You will most probably be surprised, discovering to what extent the two things may differ. Till now you have always believed (and boasted about this certitude of yours) that you are extremely kind toward everyone.
Then, having decided to be really honest with yourself, you remember situations where — having been contradicted in your opinion — you suddenly saw the screen of your mental computer go “dark.” So your attitude changed, you passed negative judgments, you used unpleasant words, you scowled, you scoffed, you allowed yourself to express the ill-temper that you deny you have. Let your beautiful true nature make your screen always bright, look at people as they really are and not how you judge them to be. Sometimes the wrinkled apple is sweeter than the smooth-skinned one. Just give it a chance.

—  Elsa Franco Al Ghaslan, a Saudi English instructor and published author (in Italy), is a long-time scholar of positive thinking.

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