If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say...

 

With all of the stress, negativity and yes, even prosperity, it's easy to fall into the rut of complaining and being negative. You may even notice that this can become a habit. Now, it won't feel that way to you. You'll spin it in your head like you are just being "realistic," or telling it like it is. But little by little this perspective can not just erode your happiness, but your relationships and career as well.

In today's day and age social media plays a huge part in most peoples day to day lives and all of the negative comments, trolling and news coverage can be overwhelming. It is so easy to get caught up in the cesspool known as facebook, twitter, instagram and pintrest.

Oh... You may be wondering why when starting this post I listed prosperity as one of the things that can drive us to be negative. Well, sometimes we have it so good that we don't realize what we have and we can become entitled. For most of us, no matter how bad we have it, there are people who are bearing much harsher burdens than us. Heck, if you have clean drinking water, food in your belly, a roof over your head and are in even fair health, you're doing better than billions of people already! That's even before we count the fact that if you're reading this you probably have a computer and/or smart phone. Not to mention if I had to guess you have indoor plumbing, if so, you are ahead of the curve of pretty much everyone throughout history... including royalty of days gone past!

So, stop commiserating about what you don't have and think about what you're grateful for. Think what is at the root of our fear, frustration, agitation, worry, bitterness, entitlement, etc? Because this state of mind is also emotional, trying to wish or think our way out of it is nearly impossible. So what can we do to snap out of it? According to Dan Baker author of "What Happy People Know," the neurology of the brain cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. [p. 81]

With that in mind here are a few action steps to help get you out of a negative state:


Action Step Exercise:

#1 - Take a couple minutes sometime today and list the things you are thankful for.

#2 - Everyone you talk to today say something that you admire about them and are thankful for.

#3 - Exercise! Do something physical to take your mind and emotions off from your negativity.

#4 - Do something to help someone else w/no strings attached, no expectation. Do it just to do it. 


Create a new habit of appreciation rather than continuing to spiral into a negative state. It takes work, but it's worth the effort!


Keep going,
~Craig


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