How Can You Minimize Negativity In Your Life? | Joel Brookman

In my book, Adjust Your Sails, we discuss how the energy around us influences our mood and in turn, our general well being.

Begin by examining the people you spend your time with. How do they make you feel? For each individual, do you feel better or worse after your interaction? Do they drain or invigorate your energy?

Are there things you expose yourself to that make you feel worse afterwards? Do you get riled up after listening to talk radio? Are there shows you watch on TV that negatively affect your mood?

There are 7 billion people on the planet. What if you focused exclusively on the worst atrocities that happen to any of those 7 billion people? If you took that content, put it on TV, repeated it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and people tuned in religiously, you’d have the news. Most of us exist in a culture where we are literally addicted to the news.

My breaking point came after hearing a news story about a mentally ill woman who threw her baby into a dumpster. I asked myself: Can I do anything about this? Is there a benefit for me to hear about it? What affect does hearing about this have on me? I came to the conclusion that there is nothing I can do, I don’t see a benefit to watching the story, and it makes me feel awful. WHY WOULD I CONTINUE TO SUBJECT MYSELF TO THIS?

There is a very simple solution–Turn it off or change the channel. There are plenty of outlets where you can find uplifting or humorous content. Why not spend your time there? If something important happens in the world, people will tell you. It’s ok if you’re not the first to know.

So how can you truly minimize the negativity in your life?

Begin to examine your external stimuli.
Using your feelings as a gauge, identify anything that affects you negatively.
Decide if you have control over the items you identified in step two.
Systematically eliminate your exposure to those items that you can control.
For items out of your control, decide what you can do to reduce exposure in the short term, while planning how to remove yourself from the situation in the long term.

Life is much too short to get mired in negativity. The world will go on even without you tuning into every depressing story. The people who bring you down will find others to depress. It’s time to make a conscious decision to minimize negativity in your life.