Chapter 2 - Positive and negative
Begin the journey toward clarity and energy
Now that you have started asking questions and seeking the right ones, you must make a realistic and objective distinction between what is positive and energizing and what is negative and energy-consuming. The most useful highlighting exercise is counting to one thousand in your mind. It is an exercise in focus and increasing rational attention; however, the more you count, the more you will notice other ideas or thoughts popping into your mind.
The exercise for becoming aware of your thoughts
What you need to do is count how many thoughts are positive and how many are negative. Do not develop any idea that arises; simply analyze whether it is positive or negative. To do this, you should feel what energizes you and what doesn't. I am adding a preliminary step in case you don't know what gives you energy: give yourself time to discover who you are as a person, to see what you like and what you don't. Most people already have a map formed through their experiences so far.
Understand the source of your lack of motivation
Let's return to counting negative and positive thoughts. When you finish counting, you will see the result: the higher the number of negative thoughts compared to positive ones, the clearer the answer will be regarding your state of low energy, lethargy, and lack of motivation. You are overloaded with negative thoughts. Although manual adjustments can be made, everything depends on their actual percentage in your mind.
Consciously choose your inner balance
It is useful to apply a system over a longer period where you consciously choose positive thoughts over negative ones—rejecting the negative ones and choosing not to dwell on them. Every person is different, so it would be strange and wrong to categorize you. However, in the age of information and the internet, the largest part of the negative source that subconsciously affects everyone is the constant flow of news.
Protect your peace from external noise
Most news channels are full of accidents, disasters, deaths, scandals, diseases, and epidemics—real or imagined dangers. All of this is negative information that you record, and your mind will be forced to make a constant effort to rebalance the equilibrium between positive and negative. It is essential to become aware of this invisible energy consumption to begin the process of recovery and protection of your own mental space.
About news, social media, and their impact on life
The trap of useless information and the impact on your life
The idea that an informed person is a powerful person becomes a trap when the information has no connection to your immediate reality. You must think about how many news stories actually affect your life directly. The answer is likely: almost none. Some might influence your future, but in an indefinite way. If something dramatic were to happen near you, you would know sooner than those writing the news. Once the news broke, you would probably say: "I know, I was there."
Information noise as emotional ballast and stress
If no news story directly affects your existence, then it represents only a negative emotional ballast or, in academic terms: stress. The second major category is related to social media. In essence, an online social network is a place lacking in the density of sensations. The time you spend following other people is wasted time. So is the time spent posting things about yourself, because the only important opinion is your own.
Reclaiming your own adventure: From observer to protagonist
Instead of seeking your own life story and adventure, you spend time following someone else's story. You play the role of an observer: praising or criticizing them based on what they do. But here is something important: regardless of what that person does, whether they succeed or fail, they are on the right track. The right track is the one where, at an advanced age, you will sit with a group of real friends and talk about everything you've done, laughing at failures or attempts that now seem ridiculous.
The essence of a fulfilled life: The story of your own deeds
Then, it won't be the fact itself that matters, but the story. You cannot tell a story about what you haven't done. You cannot tell stories only about what you have observed, commented on, or praised in others. True stories are about what you have tried and what you have built. The final result is, in fact, the story of your life. A life truly lived is a succession of attempts, good or bad, that belong entirely to you and define your unique path through the world.
Analyzing positive and negative information
Reclaim your time and protect your energy
Let's not stray from the subject of positive and negative. If you eliminate negative information from the news and social media, you will see that you've gained several hours every day in which you can do something you enjoy. You can choose to do absolutely nothing; even so, it is more useful than charging yourself negatively. The previous chapter—about asking questions—offers you a logical shield that protects you, but you need daily training because you are constantly exposed to unsolicited information.
Recognize the subtle mechanisms of manipulation
Let's say you've removed the news from your routine, but you leave for work and see billboards promising you a better life. If you haven't paid attention to the content of a manipulative ad, it's good to highlight it: the text, the utility, the promotional low price marked down from a large number to a small one, limited stock. This is how you respond to manipulation: apparent utility, price reduced from a large sum to a small one, and limited stock. In practice, you have accepted the set of questions chosen by someone else for you, without even realizing it.
Learn to ask the questions that give you back control
The correct questions are different: why am I seeing this ad? Did I choose to see the product, or is it someone else's choice? Does it actually help me, or does it just increase comfort? Does it shorten an activity, but do I actually want to shorten it? Are the benefits of the activity I am eliminating found in the new version? Beyond the object itself, you must analyze the real cost: how much do I earn per hour, and how many days do I have to work to obtain this product? Is this sacrifice truly worth it?
The real price of things: Time from your life
That many days of work actually means that many hours of life given away for an object. In the end, everything comes down to time, and your time is limited: a few years of youth, maturity, and old age. This was just one ad, but you see hundreds a day. A large part of stress comes from this unsolicited information that becomes negative energy. It is something others choose for you to do; they display it, and you read it and consume your life without being aware of it.
The positive-negative balance
Balance your energy through conscious thinking
To balance the equilibrium between positive and negative, you make an effort and consume energy in the process. However, you consume much less energy when you are aware of everything and ask questions. The more you train yourself in question-based reasoning, the stronger you will become, and your energy consumption will grow smaller and smaller. There are many sources of negative information; I encourage you to analyze them yourself and put them where they belong: in the "energy-consuming" or "trivialities" category.
Nature: Your inexhaustible source of positive energy
You must rationally and continuously seek positive energy, and the greatest source is nature. Observe the birds, the animals, the insects; watch the sunrise, the sunset, the rain, or the fog. Enjoy the blend of colors, the different tonality of sounds, and the scents floating hidden in the air. Feel the fragrance of flowers or the salty scent of the ocean. All of these give you peace because they gift you pure energy without asking for anything in return.
The freedom to be yourself in the middle of nature
In nature, no one wants anything from you, and no one forces you to do anything. Everything is defined and functional, and if you choose, you can enter its rules at any time to find your own role again.
It is a space of full freedom where your mind can rest. This simple yet profound connection is the fastest way to replenish your inner reserves and look at life with more clarity and optimism.
Value the feelings that bring light to your soul
The second great source of energy is related to rare and beautiful feelings: love, friendship, honor, respect, and faith. You know what I'm talking about; you know they are there, but often you don't seek them constantly. And when you need light in your soul, you might not know what to look for, precisely because you lack the constant touch of these positive feelings. Feed your heart with them day by day to be prepared for the moments of hardship.
Broaden your horizon
You are an energy system: Understand your mechanisms
Ask questions all the time to find out if your environment is positive or negative, and evaluate your state to see what percentage you have of each. What are you? A consumer and a producer of energy. At a physical level, this balance manifests through emotions. Your organism recharges energetically through sleep, but this recharge can be damaged by the "tone" of the day. If you do not act rationally to balance your life, the negative side becomes the majority, and sleep will function only as a limited survival instinct.
Responsibility for your own well-being
This is how you end up waking up tired, without motivation, and hating everything you have to do. You know that story where everything is to blame, except you? Precisely you are to blame because you don't let positive energy recharge you, because you don't look for it. You think of a vacation as the only salvation—one week a year. Seven days out of 365. It is clear that such a system is not healthy. Nature remains the greatest source of energy near you, but you must constantly choose to feed from it.
Meditation in nature: Connecting to the perfect charger
How can you open yourself up to receive this energy? Through meditation. Meditation in the middle of nature is like connecting to a perfect charger.
If you don't know how to do it, go back to Chapter 1 and ask questions. Meditation in nature simply means sitting comfortably and activating your senses: listen to the wind through the leaves, the bickering of the birds, sniff the scent of flowers or grass. Take a handful of soil and record its smell in your memory, letting your mind create positive stories.
Imagination exercise and reconnecting with your roots
Think that 500 years ago, a knight knelt on that soil offering a flower, or imagine something funny, like a puppy from two centuries ago. All this activity is, in fact, a positive recharge you can do at any time. Find a place where a tree grows, give it a name, and talk to it. Tell it what's on your mind. The tree is a living being connected to the Earth's energy mass, the mother of us all, and represents the purest energy you can address.
The smile that starts on the face and reaches the soul
Try it and you will see: during this recharge, worries no longer seem so heavy, stress decreases, and you will feel a smile appearing. This smile will go from your face directly into your soul. Do this day by day, no matter how busy you are. There is no job more important in this world than taking care of your health and your own energy.
Charge yourself with positive energy
Mind control and the ritual for a regenerative sleep
These are models for managing the negative things in your life. If you want to evolve, then you need energy. You will see how you start sleeping better if you achieve this balance. For sleep, it is very important to activate mind control before going to bed. Although the mind is selective during sleep and deals mainly with strong emotions, it still remains influenceable. Thus, before you fall asleep, you must think only of positive things and reject any negative thoughts.
The effort to create an authentic rest space
Creating a comfortable rest space means preparing your bed every evening—and for this, you must put in a conscious effort. Take care to feel good in your own skin: perhaps a pleasant shower or a little massage for the muscles that ache. This entire preparation doesn't take more than an hour, but it radically changes your next day. You will see if it's worth the effort as soon as you try. The difference between preparing yourself for rest and throwing yourself into bed with the thought that tomorrow you'll start all over again is colossal.
Emotional awareness: Identifying and balancing feelings
Your organism reacts to the negative through emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, or disgust. It is important that, besides the experience itself, you analyze their state and source. Emotions do not appear out of thin air; therefore, if you identify the source, you can stabilize or neutralize it through a positive recharge. This is, in fact, emotional awareness: knowing what you feel, why you feel it, and choosing the activity that balances you and compensates for the emotion you feel.
We are what we imagine ourselves to be
Meditation as a time for evaluation and planning
Let's return to meditation for a moment to enhance its role. In essence, meditation means time with yourself: evaluating your present state, remembering the past, or making plans and dreaming about the future. All of these are very important and interconnected because your present decisions become the past that shapes the future. The future is built by your decisions; you decide who you are with every change you make. In this way, you can actually change your past. If you change your past, it means your future will be different.
Creating a daily thinking process
You can choose various strategies or periods for meditation, such as retreats, for example. However, I recommend daily, short-term meditation. Other types are merely the development of a process, while daily meditation is the creation of a process—a process of thinking, questioning, evaluating, and keeping things under control. The best time is usually in the evening, as the sun sets. Not right before sleep, as that would encompass both the positive and the negative.
A sincere dialogue with your own subconscious
You will start with: "another day has gone by." Have I accomplished something good or bad? Am I grateful and proud of what I achieved today or the path I am following in life?
Then, let your mind choose and bring to the attention of the rational self whatever it wishes. It is good to let the subconscious bring to the forefront what is important and necessary. Work on solving the highlighted problem for a set amount of time. Once the time is up, whether you found a solution or not, consider the time allocated to that problem to be sufficient.
The power to set worries aside
Once you have closed the discussion about problems, savor the moment. It is the moment when you have no worries, and no weight presses down on you. There was a wise saying that we are what we imagine ourselves to be. If you see yourself as strong, fast, agile, and adaptable, life is beautiful. If you see yourself as weak and slow, then life is hard and dark. I will extend this image to our worries and responsibilities—everyone's. If you see them as beasts that constantly bite at you, life is hard.
Choose to climb the mountain with a smile on your lips
If you see them as mountains that are hard to climb, but can be climbed, then life is beautiful. Why? Mountains are always there, but they don't force you to climb them. You choose to climb them. Perhaps you are smiling now. Maybe you feel the weight on your shoulders getting lighter, or perhaps you've taken the sack of worries and set it down beside you for a moment. You will pick it up later and continue to carry it, but every now and then, set it down and smile. May your life's path move forward or upward. But may it move with a clear brow and a smile on your face.
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