Three alarming facts and stats came up for me this week that I want to share:
1. Social Media: The main emotions we take from social media are “regret” and “shame” – regret that we don’t do as much as we think we “should” do and shame for doing things we feel like we “shouldn’t” do. These two emotions equal “I am not enough”. We live in a “compare and despair” world. We compare ourselves to others and then beat ourselves up because we can never be as good in everything as everyone else.
2. News: The positive to negative ratio of news shows that close to 90% of all news is negative.
3. Advertisements: Digital marketing experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. That means that between 4,000 and 10,000 times a day, we are being told our life could -- and should -- be better.
This ALL adds up to a tremendous amount of “I’m not enough”, “I need to do better”, and “It’s so bad so why bother?”. That’s a LOT of negativities coming at us.
How can we counteract all the negativity that is being thrown at us? One way is with gratitude. Did you know that gratitude rewires our brain so we become more likely to focus on the positives in the world rather than the negatives? Our brains are always going to seek the things that keep us safe (which are often negative), but in this time and age, we need to nurture our happiness and our emotional well-being.
How do we do this? One simple way is to think of three things that you are grateful for that happened in the past 24 hours and include why. Adding the “why” is important because it helps you remember specific incidents and makes each “gratitude” new. So rather than, “I’m grateful for my friends”, try, “I’m grateful for Michelle because of the way she made me laugh today.”
Think of three things and why. That’s it! (Here’s a Ninja Tip: make it simple and you’re more likely to follow through.)
Do you feel overwhelmed by all the negativity in the world? Click here for a free coaching session to help you learn techniques to live a more grateful and less anxiety-filled life.
