The Art of Positivity.

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Henry Mah | 0 Comments

With the advent of the internet and how we are able to exchange information on so many social platforms, it comes with great relief that people do want to inspire each other and affirm the idealistic direction they want life to be. This is a great sign that the world is inherently good and though we may be wronged by our fellow humans at times and catastrophes do happen, we hope to take mindful and loving action during struggle or duress.

One of the most reassuring things I’ve been seeing more frequently are the beautifully designed positive quotes framed within a colourful image or designed background. For lack of a standardized word, I’ll call them inspirational meta-memes. In our natural state of focus and awareness, these meta-memes pop up on our computer monitor or mobile phone to inspire us no matter where we are at any given time.

Before the age of home computers, the same quotes (albeit much less profound) used to hang as motivational posters above our desks at work or at sitting rooms in doctor’s offices. But they were static and redundant, the picture faded and worn. LIke the message had sort of slipped out of sync with how we really felt. So much so that people began mocking them and a radical new form has evolved. I’ve enjoyed this process of transformation. This universal awareness to inspire each other, without ever meeting or speaking physical words using harmonious images is a saving grace for humanity. The evolution itself of the graphical elements and variations in quotes are truly inspiring.

It becomes immediately comforting in the world to know that someone thinks like I do or perhaps how I want to feel. We can learn a small bit from an old master in mere seconds. Thousands of years of wisdom, compacted in a square perhaps with rounded corners floating down the computer screen waiting for our eyes to catch it. We have collectively streamlined the easiest way to process this information, a small handful of writing with carefully rendered typeface into coherent images as our brains are wired to remember pictures and chunking words together. It’s like dessert for the rational mind.

The moment that the quote flashes by you, you will know it. That’s the one that will get you through this hard time, happy time, reflective time. And without a thought, you will clip it, print it, position it, put it into a folder or another special place so that you can revisit it again and again.

If it's really good you might hold that thought forever.