There is a very annoying advert on TV at the moment. It features, I assume, Albert Einstein sitting in a bath blethering on about getting a smart meter. I have one and it has not worked since November - hmmmm.
Anyway back to Albert Einstein. Many great quotes are attributed to this amazing man. Here is one of them: “Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.” I think we all know someone like that. No matter what is happening they manage to cascade torrents of cold-water on the situation ruining it for everyone else. “We have done that before … it did not work!” - OR - “We have not tried this … because it will not work!” Negative people are emotional thermostats. They set the emotional temperature. Usually well into negative figures. Now, allowing that all of us have our off-days. Allowing that now and again we can all be negative, what does this quote from Einstein tell us?
Forbes Magazine tells us that negative people can be toxic. Being with them creates ‘unnecessary complexity, strife, and, worst of all stress.” Interestingly the Bible is well ahead when it comes to the subject of ‘toxic people’. It warns us, for example, of the danger of those who ‘gossip’, highlighting the damage they do. It mentions the ‘selfish’, it mentions the ‘envious’, and the ‘judgemental’. The Bible warns us of the dangers of negativity.
Of course negativity is not just found in people. It is found in other places too. For example the media, social media, the music scene, politics, and even in churches. In all of this the Bible counsels us to choose whom we associate with and whom we listen to with great care for these things inform our views and set our emotional temperature. Hans F. Hansen said: “People inspire you, or they drain you - pick them wisely.”
David Pattie
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