Now Why Are They All Blinking?!?!

Does anybody actually enjoy climbing up a rickety ladder to hang Christmas lights? Then once you have it all figured out and you’re positive that even Clark Griswold himself would be proud, something inevitably fails. One light goes, then another, then they’re all out. You solve that challenge but now they’re blinking!

Our minds act exactly the same way. Think about a recent interaction you had with someone that went real negative real quick for seemingly no apparent reason. Maybe you both came into the situation in a slightly negative headspace and one comment led to another and before you know it, you just can’t see a path forward.

One negative emotion from one person begets another. We are hardwired this way, it’s in our survival DNA. It takes TEN positive interactions to counteract the negative effects of ONE bad interaction whether it’s with a family member, a teammate, the barista having a bad day, whatever. It’s the worst kind of groupthink. 

Me & my daughters clearly feeding off each other my wife tries to motivate us to keep walking.

Like I said, it’s in our DNA. We have negative voices in our head that have helped us survive for generations. We call them Saboteurs and they take the form of Judgement, Avoidance, Controlling, Hyper-Achievement, and the list goes on and on. These voices are the primary cause for all negative emotions and they are even more contagious than the latest update from the CDC. 

As the title character in the Christmas movie “Klaus” says, “One true act of kindness always sparks another.” Put another way, positive emotions are just as contagious as negative emotions. This is especially impactful in a group setting whatever that may look like for you. For me it’s my family and the various teams I coach. One small pick-me-up or word of encouragement from one teammate or, heaven forbid a sibling, has the ability to transform everyone’s perspective of their situation. 

But unfortunately we are not necessarily wired this way. It takes a lot of hard work to build the mental muscles that enable us to have a more positive mindset in the face of setbacks than it does to have a negative mindset. 

The good news is that it’s really not hard to start building those muscles now. If you’re ready to begin your Mental Fitness journey, book a Free Session to learn more.