Evolution had shaped the human brain to be acutely aware of all potential dangers.
Combined with the tendency of the media’s “only bad news is good news”, this has a profound impact on human perception: it literally shuts off our ability to take in good news (“Negativity Bias”).
We have an innate need to pay attention to bad news, because, in evolutionary terms, such information can be more important to our immediate survival.
When we see something that makes us feel anger or fear, or something that validates an existing bias, we tend to respond to it without thinking.
Unfortunately, because the human mind orients automatically, and powerfully, toward unfulfilled needs, our mind might be the biggest stumbling block on the road towards optimism and abundance.
Hence, pessimists are right when they say that, if the world were to continue as it is, it would end in disaster for all humanity.
The world will not continue as it is
That is the whole point of human progress, the whole message of cultural evolution and dynamic change.
Because the real danger comes from slowing down change.
For 200 years, pessimists have had all the headlines, even though optimists have far more often been right, don’t you agree?
None of which is to say that we shouldn’t read the news.
But to let tomorrow’s worries overwhelm today’s joys is a bad bargain.
To save the future, first we need to save the present.
I have a lot of theories about this.
I hate to be unscientific, but I really do believe that your attitude shapes everything that happens to you in life. If you wish for good things, you get good things. If you secretly wish for bad things, you get bad things.
I like listening to the age-experienced and reading studies on longevity. The people who live past the age of 100 are generally pretty positive people.
You don’t have to hide in the woods to become more positive.
All you need to do is spend one day without the news.
By the end of it, I can guarantee, the world will already feel a little bit better.
……
Now, has that worked for you?
No?
Then just remind yourself that you are richer than 93% of people.
Not in money, but in time.
108 billion people have lived throughout history. 93% of them are dead.
You have what every king and queen, every pharaoh and ruler, every CEO and celebrity of the past would give all their wealth for:
Today.