How to stay positive.
To understand how to stay positive we need to understand the functioning of the mind. Mind function likes a computer. It runs programs which are called "Stereotypes" in the brain. Once we see that usually it is the default program which start to run unconsciously. However, in novel situations and deliberate practice of mindfulness can make someone tap into the controllable part of the mind. By saying 'Controllable' I do not mean that we can change our thoughts magically. Only thing we can do is be aware of what is happening. And only way we can create more positive and productive thoughts is by being in an environment which brings us more positive news. That is the key. To stay positive, you have to be in an environment which is positive. The question is are we in such an environment? Let us take you a thought journey on critically evaluating the possibility of quitting the news.
News generally is not positive at all- Mindfulness on news.
Generally, news is not positive. Generally, news is negative. You can conduct a little experiment yourself. I did it myself. I watched some old news program for half an hour and found out that 95% of the news about errors. Errors in our systems. Politicians blaming each other. Crimes committed; Accidents happened during the day not only in our country even in neighboring countries. Do you know apart from intermittent TV Ads everything else is negative. Even the politicians do not talk about positive things. They talk about what is the worst could happen to us. After being mindful about the news, I realized it does not provide a positive vibe after watching news. I just feel horrible to live in a so horrible country where everything is broken.
Yet, mindfulness gives some other news. I did not see anyone dying on the road today. I did not see a crime. I see people working, children going to school, relaxed like I did years and years ago. I see clouds, and colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky. Also, the smiles of people. I see friends shaking hands and say how do you do. The world is a balanced place it seems. I find what I look for. This I have learned watching the rain some time ago.
Positive rains and negative rains.
Look at the rain. Rain can be seen in both ways, either a good thing or a bad thing. As a child I saw rain always positively. I was keen on seeing water flowing in our gutters to start to make a little paper boat and play. Put my hand on some droplets which fell down on the floor from our broken roof. But now, the same rain, is just a nuisance, it is worse if I forget my umbrella. Same muddy puddles where I used to play has become pools of distress. Only because I have changed the way I look at it. This is also what the news does to the rain.
News will start to tell you all the horrible things which happened with rain. Crops destroyed some part of the country. Some remote houses are flooded. They zoom into the crying child who has lost all his books on the floodwater. But they do not see the bright things happening in the rest of the country. They do not even talk about the rain when is just perfect and ordinary this year to bring harvest to farmers houses. Why does our news try to bring a negative news more than positive and why we are also inclined to consume negativity more than positivity. In mindfulness I can see rain is neither positive or negative without our judgement. But we and news tend to tag it with negativity than positivity.
Negativity bias.
Negativity bias is the phenomenon where humans are more inclined to register and respond emotionally to negative information. A negative news will create a tsunami of emotions in your mind. I think this is more evolutionary rather than by choice. Imagine it is only few thousand years since we build permanent homes and live in cities. If we did not remember where, lions roam, and elephants killed your father, survival would not be so easy. Hence, it was carved into our brain, to identify danger. However, our news agencies tend to hack this tendency by their own narrative. News doesn't allow you to look and see what happens like in a still film. They report. They edit the narrative to bring up all the emotion and adrenaline response at the end of the hard-working day. And you would crave this dopamine surge again and again.
Why you should quit the news - and carpe diem.
And there is no harm of quitting the news for an ordinary person. For a CEO, you can just ask your secretary to give a summary of important information rather than relying on heavily edited mass media. If there is anything significant happening, it will find a way to reach you. More importantly you will have a relaxing mind and a better sleep than wondering about problems which should be tackled by newly elected president. We send them to the parliament for that reason. And it is their responsibility, while you enjoy your time. Imagine, the world is never going to be a better place for this news agencies. However, it already is. Instead of news you can choose what positive thing you are going to choose for that half an hour to make you better. Even if you do nothing will not harm you.
Next -> dopamine detox
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