 traverse “Terra Fértil” (“Fertile Land”) with wind instruments growling animal sounds while keyboard notes rain down like a cooling shower of electric rain, and percussion and drums rumble in accompanying thunder.
We more leisurely wind our way down the “Estrada Para Camomila” (“Road to Chamomile”), which weaves soul guitar, turntables and digital samples like a crown of wildflowers into its melody; the cool mid-song break, where the bass picks up its tempo from jazz walk to jazz stride just long enough for you to notice, feels like tripping through the Brazilian jungle with Henry Mancini and his horn section. This “Road” directly leads to “Felag Mengu” (“Migrant Farmers”) marching out into the musical field to the beat of martial drums, crossing through a cool jazz intersection where a romantic Spanish dance floats upon piano and harmonizing brass.
“Rinoceronte Blues” stomps on a heavy-footed beat while harmonica and tenor sax jointly wail and growl the blues into a thoroughly beastly howl which circles back upon itself. “Vale De Boca Seca” sounds even more ferocious: The rhythm section, horn section and fuzz-toned lead guitar hook all seem to be playing in subtly different yet intersecting times, cooking up a scalding cauldron of Jeff Beck electric jazz-rock guitar fusion funked up by the Tower of Power horns.
Entremundos never once reaches beyond its grasp, and is even better than the Orchestra’s eponymous debut, which was one of the best recordings I’ve ever heard. Even if they were to disband and stop right now, Nomade Orquestra would go down as one of the best progressive bands in Brazil’s storied music history. But let’s hope that this is just the beginning of what’s becoming a remarkable story instead.
First up, I want you to recognise that negative thoughts – especially when it comes to difficult situations – are actually pretty normal. Think about it – when someone criticises you for example, the automatic response is to get defensive and feel frustrated, spurring off some thoughts of annoyance in your head. This is because it pushes your barriers up. It’s almost like an attack. And your automatic response is therefore to respond negatively, as a way of fighting back. It’s your body’s way of helping you to avoid harm.
If we want to understand it a little more scientifically, basically your brain releases a chemical called cortisol. This is used as a way to warn you about an imminent danger – it’s kind of like your alarm system. So going back to that example, if someone is criticising you, their words perhaps getting a little bit heated or aggressive, cortisol will be released in your brain which makes negative thoughts come more easily than positive thoughts, but helps you to deal with the situation… Or so it thinks it does!
I guess by thinking negatively, your brain thinks it’s acknowledging the danger. Negative thinking feels realistic, it soothes our pain, or eases our embarrassment. Negative thinking protects us and lowers expectations. But, let’s be honest… we can’t completely blame it on all of that!
Ultimately, we have the power to change the way we see situations. More often than not, we just get into bad habits. So if you want to know how to change the way you see situations, the first thing you’ve got to do is work on your mindset.
So like I said, the first step to changing the way you see situations is to adopt a more positive outlook – on all things in life. Because hey, if you respond negatively to situations, you’re not really going to gain anything from it.  Positivity on the other hand, opens your mind and allows you to build new skills and resources. And by positivity I don’t mean that something bad happens and you say, “Oh wonderful, this is just what I wanted!”… sarcasm much! Clearly it isn’t. And actually, that’s not what being positive is about, because it would just be like trying to kid yourself. It’s not real or true.
For the first example, let’s go back to the person who’s criticising you. And let’s get a little more specific. Let’s say it’s your partner. How can you view this situation in a more positive light, without getting defensive?
Well, first off you can reflect on what they’re saying, to see if there are some elements of truth in it, for which you can take on board and aim to improve on.
Secondly, instead of seeing what they are saying as some sort of attack, try to see how they could actually be trying to help you. Or help the relationship. Which is a good thing!
So similarly, thirdly – you can think about the fact that at least they actually care enough to speak up about it. They’re also comfortable enough in your relationship to express how they feel. Again, that’s what you want. It’s the sign of a healthy relationship.
You see? You don’t have to necessarily like what they’re saying, but you can choose to take the positives from it. This is fundamentally what it’s all about when it comes to changing the way you see situations.
Let’s take another one. Let’s say something crappy happens. As this is a blog about love, let’s say someone you’re interested in rejects you. (I wrote about that in this post here – have a read if you need!) Your automatic response in this situation is to probably feel a little hurt and upset. This is okay, it’s normal. But it can also in turn start a spiral of negative thoughts, questioning yourself and your worthiness. Which is what we want to avoid!
What proof is there that these things I’m saying aren’t true?
When were there times that someone I liked, did like me back?
Were there times that someone liked me and I didn’t feel the same in return?
Although this hurts right now, it’s not the end of the world.
I won’t settle for a love that is anything less than I deserve. Someone will feel strongly for me. This person clearly didn’t so it wasn’t meant to be.
I will not allow this to knock my confidence. I am still just as worthy of love and will be loved.
It’s strong, it’s empowering and it’s a more uplifting way to look at something that is not really what you wanted. But… it is what it is! If you were to carry on thinking negatively in that situation, it would only cause more damage than good. So why allow yourself to think in ways that will only harm you? Choose to change the way you see situations for the better. Because it really does impact your quality of life.
 Yep, it’s true. This study confirms it if you don’t believe me!
How could I turn this around?
By doing this, it stops you going round and round in circles, going over how bad things are – fuelling that self-pity and low self-worth. Instead, it gets your brain searching for new lessons, new nuggets of life’s knowledge, that can in turn lead to resolutions, ways forward.
When you do this, you’ll find yourself laughing off the little mistakes, saying “Well, I’m certainly not going to do THAT again!” and pushing through the tougher stuff, because you have that drive. You want to figure out what different things mean. And don’t just look for the bad stuff. When good things happen too, take a moment to appreciate them, value them, note them in your mind. So that this learning process just becomes part of everyday life.
Like I said, this thought process has honestly gotten me through the hardest times in my life and made me fully appreciate the best. It can do the same for you too but in order to make it work, you HAVE to value the learning process. Life is a journey and every hardship you go through, is only building you up to who you’re meant to be and what you are to become. Challenges are just part of character building. So they’re actually a good thing!
If you have this mentality, it doesn’t actually matter what happens in your life – because so long as you’re able to learn something, take a new lesson away from a situation, it can actually be seen as a good thing. And if there really are no positives, then turn the bad situation into your drive or motivation. For me, the worst thing that ever happened in my life could never be a positive, but instead it turned into my purpose. It doesn’t define me, but it certainly has shaped me. And for that, I am actually quite thankful.
So, if you want to change the way you see situations, search within yourselves for more empowering ways to look at things. We can’t change our past, nor can we determine what will happen next… Not completely. There will always be things out of our control. But we can find strength, drive or positivity in any situation. Truly we can. You just have to choose to see it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic, so leave a reaction or comment below.
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