Negative excitement

I ran across a person the other day who was telling me that, since we last met, all had gone along fairly well and he had had "no negative excitement" in his life. I thought his wording was an interesting way of speaking about stress in his life. No negative excitement. His expression got me to think about how many of us, perhaps most, tend to first look to the negative about our self, life, everything, as if we need to defend against owning anything negative or not "right" or socially unacceptable, fend it off, stay away from it, as if we are afraid of it, don't want to be related to it. While some of this effort may be normally protective and helpful for coping with stress, it may also prevent us from facing and addressing those "demons" of distress that remain disturbingly restless within us - a chronic anxiety or depression, panic, psychosis, prejudice, racism, homophobia, chauvinism, religious intolerance or hatred, rage from victimization or abuse, anti-military sentiments, or a host of other such problems we may harbor within us. I am privileged to see and work with much of this inner distress and our learning to purge or reduce their influence does set us free to become less negative, more faithful, hopeful and loving in life. There is a lot to be said for the expression, "the truth can set you free."