"You are what you eat."

And I think we are much more than matter.

In fact, I think that thinking is pretty key to this entire concept. Food for thought: Thought is food, too. (That's probably been said before, ha, oops).

My best friend studied psychology (and graduated in three years!), and different conversations of ours have led me to think a lot about our brains. My mom also gave me a cool book to read this past summer— one I haven't finished yet— The Healing Secrets of The Ages by Catherine Ponder— that's been exposing the power our own thoughts have over our bodies, our health, our outcomes. She writes that the things we think about the most are the things we put our faith in.

What do we want to be putting our faith in? What do we really believe in?

Most recently, the power of negative thought has become very relevant to me in terms of faith and perspective. There is quite a lot of negativity in this world, and it has a darkening effect.

Negativity kills vivacity, gratitude, presence. It steals from the reality of goodness and places self-pity and hopelessness in the forefront of one's existence.

Does that sound healthy?

When we are negative, does it really feel good? I know that whenever I choose to solely see the sour side of different situations, I always end up missing out on all the good around me. It's easy to block out the gifts we are receiving, and it's also damaging.

Sure, sometimes things suck. Life is far from easy.

But life is also a miracle, and I really think negativity is a defeat. Remaining in a negative paradigm paints the world gray, and it makes seeing the light much more difficult. It's not that the light ever dies or fades, but that we can't see it.

Or we choose not to see it.

And the more we think negatively, the more we teach our brain to follow those same pathways (that's a really Erikanized version of something really psychologically complicated that I only understand on the surface level). Negativity parts the sea for… more negativity.

We were absolutely not created to live a life of negativity. We were made to fly. To enjoy this Earth. To reflect Love. Whatever you believe, I don't think anyone is going to tell me that complaining and maintaining negative energy is the ultimate objective of humankind.

Important note to add: I don't consider fighting for social justice negativity or "complaining." Political activism is by no means "hyper-sensitivity." It's necessary. It's growth for a world that desperately needs it. Social injustice is negativite. Fighting for human rights, equality, equity, peace, dignity— these are positive things. Light defeating darkness.

Also, there are circumstances on this earth (poverty, disease, mental illness, systematic inequality, discrimination), grave injustices and pains, that place people in really dark life situations. Of course, I don't think encouraging positivity should attempt to undermine the gravity of suffering.

Thought that to be a really important note.

Our point of view holds a lot of power over our lives, however. My experience studying abroad in Ecuador has been difficult and wonderful, as many of you know, and while it'd perhaps be temporarily satisfying to mope all day long in the difficulty, it's a thousand times (a mathematically exact number) more rewarding to soak up the good.

Because there is so much good. There is a holy amount of good. Every day I am gifted the greatest wholeness within love. Albeit sometimes seemingly fleeting, the good, the love, are always there.

For the most part, goodness manifests itself in our lives through our perspective. Lenses of negativity create a perpetual interpretation of negativity. If we're always thinking negatively, if we're always complaining, our brain is only going to learn how to do just that, and we'll be less able to enjoy things, because we've taught ourselves to dislike everything.

We teach ourselves to dwell in the bad. We feed ourselves darkness. We put our faith in the ugly, the disagreeable, the dismal. We convince ourselves that everything is against us.

That cannot continue. For the sake of our humanity, we have to keep our heads up. We have to love— people and life. We have to be conscious of our perspective and how it interacts with our reality.

We have to turn those frowns right upside down. We have to put our faith in the goodness. We have to fight for justice, and a large part of justice is love. Light.

Please fight the positive fight with me.