Ac-centuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-between
Music by Harold Arlen, Lyrics by Johnny Mercer, 1944
Sung by Perry Como

I’m often told, especially since creating this blog, what a positive person I am. It’s true, I try to keep things light, and to nudge people in the direction of hopefulness. Those who know me well just might be laughing their asses off. What’s funny is that I am equal parts Pollyanna and Debbie Downer. Big picture: I generally believe that things will turn out all right. We’ll eventually get a handle on Covid. The economy will stay strong.

But here comes Debbie Downer, the voice in my head that persuades me that I will never hear from that particularly nice guy I had one date with because I’m pretty sure that at one point during our lively lunch, I just may have …drooled. Just an eyedropper’s amount of seepage from the corners of my mouth, but still, drool is drool, though this was the oh-so-special Parkinsonian variety, coming upon one with no advance warning, like many PD symptoms. . It isn’t attractive, nor is it the kind of thing you’d expect to encounter on a date that wasn’t a gig babysitting for an infant. I hadn’t yet informed my date of my “condition” and I hadn’t had the presence of mind to say something like, “Oh, I see you’ve noticed that little bit of spittle. Isn’t she cute? I call her Gittel.”

And I can’t seem to quiet the storyteller in my brain who forces me to create the worst case scenario resulting from 1/16 teaspoon of saliva escaping my mouth. The Pollyanna in me finds “the Drool”” hilarious and hey! fodder for a blog post. Unfortunately, I become convinced that “Date” has spread the mouth-watering story along the entire eastern seaboard, and everyone from Boston to Boca believes I drool. I now have more cooties than that mean girl gave me in Miss Brady’s fifth grade classroom.

I’m supposed to be this pied piper of positivity but I ask you, what good could come of this inadvertent leakage from my pie hole? Does worry about my reputation keep me up watching Mary Tyler Moore reruns at 3;00 a.m? Confession: I am a positivity advocate and, at the same time, a world class catastrophizer.

Within this brain resides two personalities vying for hegemony. As if the universe is attempting to tip the positivity/ negativity scales, I just today received the following in my inbox:
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Here’s Today’s Tip: Positivity

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn is famous for saying, You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
Are those 5 people you associate with most positive-minded, encouraging, and supportive? Do they energize you and inspire you to be your best? Raise awareness to self-sabotaging tendencies? Or is your inner circle more likely to be negative, pessimistic, and defeatist? Are those five people energy vampires holding you back?

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The song tells us not to “mess with Mr. In-between.”But that’s where I live! Because the “negatives” are not always just the Debbie Downers. They’re sardonic. They‘re sharp. They’re often the ones trying to change the world. They’re funny and they’re FUN!

And yeah, negativity can be…wait for it…..a positive, when deployed in the service of something good. Lots of comedians are deeply negative, but they make us, and maybe themselves, laugh.

But when the negative thoughts drive you insane, and engender many more tears than laughter, yeah, it’s way better to be positive. I’d much rather be dreaming about a new romance than watching old TV reruns as I catastrophize about nonsense.

So I guess that at the end of the day, what I’m saying is “Accentuate the Positive.”

And now for something truly positive – my podcast, nearing launch time. If you don’t’ believe me, here’s the trailer for Parky Conversations!

And here’s an opportunity to support quality, informative and yes, entertaining programming like my blog and podcast.. I’d be grateful for gifts in any amount.

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Recommendations:

And here’s some musical positivity to brighten your day.

Put on a Happy Face, performed by Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh

Freddie Mercury sings Don’t Stop Me Now

Wouldn’t it Be Nice by the Beach Boys (of course!)

Do You Believe in Magic by the Lovin’ Spoonful

I get goosebumps every time I hear One from A Chorus Line.