Recently I heard someone saying that people were naturally more negative than positive.

This got me wondering, how have they come to believe that?

I started contemplating on this topic, searching in my mind the instances when I had negative attitudes about someone or something, and investigating how they came about.

I realised that every time I was critical, judgemental or disapproving of something or someone, there was fear behind, or feelings that belong to the category of fear (e.g. worry, being defensive, vulnerable, insecure etc.). I continued tracing back in my mind the origins of that fear and I realised that inevitably there would be an opinion in my mind that I had about that certain something or someone that created my reaction of fear.

As I searched deeper for the origins of these opinions, I discovered that very few of them came from my own personal experience. In other words, I didn’t have any real basis, a personal experience, for my negative attitudes. Instead, most of them I had accepted, consciously or unconsciously, from the outside. I had adopted them as mine and I was applying them in my life without questioning myself if they were true or not.

How did that happen?

Then it clicked! Looking at most of the media, it is noticeable that “bad news sells better than good news” and so, we have been constantly conditioned to notice the “bad” news, to notice the flaws, to notice what doesn’t go well, to be critical, competitive, judgemental, to…you get the point. In one word, to be Negative. 

This conditioning comes from the TV, radio, newspapers, social media, different marketing strategies we are constantly bombarded with on a daily basis, the health industry, the insurance industry, even the people we meet (as we become the extensions of the bearers of the news), etc. Much of the information out there helps to trigger fear in us. To trigger negative feelings.

Well, no wonder people believe that human beings are more inclined to be negative then positive.

An important note here. This is not to say that we don’t have any personal responsibility in the situation. We do, very much so. Everything starts with us, with taking 100% responsibility for the choices we make in our lives.

However, being constantly surrounded with information that focuses on the ‘bad and the ugly in life’, is not helping us very much.

The question that arises here is “can we do something do about it?”

Yes, we can. Plenty!

But we can start with this one thing:

Use discernment! Don’t take any information for granted because a so called “authority” says it is so. Verify it for yourself. Become your own authority and learn to trust your intuition.

Learn to trust yourself.