I was going into the room where my Tai Chi class is held on a Tuesday. It was pouring with rain and I was carrying a wet umbrella.

Also entering the room was another member. I bemoaned the weather but she responded in a way which made me doubt my sanity. She was positive about it saying things like we mustn’t complain and so on.

Then I said “another hour of exercise!” in a tone which suggested it was all too much on a rainy miserable February day. I ended it with a laugh but again she responded with a positive spin. Like oh well it keeps us fit or something like that. For heaven’s sake!

Her responses annoyed me and there was a woman who kept invading my space throughout the class which meant I had to keep moving away from her. There was lots of room so it wasn’t as if she would find it difficult to keep her distance from anyone else in the room. I think the woman who was overly positive at the front door had made me irritated.

I was thinking a lot of the woman who kept saying positive things to me on entering the hall and thought maybe it would be a good topic for a blog i.e how different people choose to view life or respond to others who express  a certain view however trivial and non consequential such as the weather.

I actually blamed myself for being so downright miserable but still got annoyed with her for not joining in. We could have had a laugh.

Then another thing happened on my way out of the class. Another woman who I’d never noticed before came up to me and apologised for getting in my way during the class. She was not the culprit. It had been someone completely different. I hadn’t even noticed this one who apologised for nothing. Anyway I tried to convince her she needn’t worry and started to say I had been annoyed by another person invading my space. But I sensed that she wanted to chat so I asked her how she was and she said she wasn’t feeling good about herself. It took a while but I managed to make her feel better I think.  It was raining where we talked and I didn’t know her but I tuned into her mood. 

I’m not congratulating myself for this but it was odd that within an hour I  interacted with two people who seemingly had very different outlooks on life. 

The second person was quite draining if I’m honest but at least she was sincere.

I’m not sure if my negative attitude generally is the right one. I’m not always like this and honestly can be quite cheerful. I say hello to people I meet walking and smile.

But I do get annoyed by people who counter anything negative I say with a forced/false remark of positivity. I mean do they honestly really feel like that? I wasn’t asking for help or advice just commenting on the weather and the thought of doing an hour’s Tai Chi. I guess I just picked the wrong person to chat to and perhaps I should always be cheerful to people I do not know!

Do you ever experience false positivity and feel irritated by it or is it just me?

Julia 

A Moodscope member