By Jean Ponzi
You’ve got to Acc-centuate the Positive
E-liminate the Negative
Latch on to the Affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between!
When Johnny Mercer wrote this lyric in 1944, things were in a pretty critical state around the world. Yet his ditty advised Mercer’s fellow human beings to keep on plugging away, maintaining focus on the outcome that is true heart’s desire.
The assignment in this song is clear: set your sights on what you want to occur – then WORK on it with the second verse:
You’ve got to spread joy up
to the maximum
Bring gloom down to
the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Is liable to walk upon the scene
Note: there’s no recommendation to indulge in a couple hours a day of What if? No slack allowed to wallow for a while in Why me? And for sure no loophole through which to wiggle with Not my problem!
In today’s climate, clouded with doubts about whether Earth Life can weather increasingly degrading change, in these economic doo-dah days, in an era when public or private stresses weigh in many ways upon us all, it’s logical to ask – to implore, to holler – How now? What can I do?
1. Be Grateful. Even when you feel so down you think you have no more to give, it’s possible to give THANKS. This kind of giving will keep the energy of loving life-force cycling through, refreshing and recharging all your systems and environs.
2. Affirm! What we say is what we get. Form follows intention, so set a clear intention in affirmative language and – Hocus Pocus You Can Focus! – say or sing out and repeat. Doubt your ability? Example: May I be safe and protected, may I be peaceful and kind, may I be happy and purposeful, may I live with an open heart. May loving kindness arise! Where you can always make a change – within yourself – it works.
3. Be what’s Possible. Embody what you want to have transpire. No muckin’ around in fear-full maybes with ole’ Mister In-Between. Let Be-ing be your power tool and use it with attentive smarts.
4. En-JOY whatever you can, wherever you are. Find the FUN in dysfunction and let yourself laugh in the pasty face of doom. Joy is a lot like solar energy. It’s a clean, strong, power-full, abundant, and infinitely renewable resource, although our human technologies for applying it are still kind of lagging.
Yes, we’ve made some whopping messes. Not pointing here at rats or invasive plants or mosquitoes or even viruses. I mean our kind, good ole’ Homo sapiens.
I also solidly believe we’ve got the stuff to turn over a new leaf, to muster our forces and work together to restore a common good. To tap another lyric from another human time when we faced another critical mess: We did it before and we can do it again – and we WILL do it again!
Let’s get into a groove of inter-species cooperation, on an intra-planetary scale. Some of my favorite practice modes:
Play music and sing with friends.
Cook and eat together with friends.
Dance or take a hike or simply sit together,
with friends.
Build or repair or grow something
with friends.
See a trend emerging here? Who’s in your cast of characters? Some of my best friends are trees, and pollinating insects, and soil organisms. Some darn fine bro and sister Homos on this sweet Earth too.
Opportunities abound, all around the Circle of Life, when our kind steps outside our MY-opic MORE-nful SameOldSameOld box o’ ME.
Let’s walk our fine selves out-of-doors, breathe the reciprocity, the generosity, that’s always there, for all us animals and plants. Make some genuine fun with folks you love to amplify everybody’s best intentions.
Sing it with me now: Nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try!
Jean Ponzi’s long-running enviro-conversation show Earthworms helps her keep up this upbeat practice. Tap into the positive energy flow, podcasting from www.KDHX.org. Thanks for giving a listen!