Bad News

My last post about how to simplify the legal system can easily apply to the reporting of news. For my next three monthly segments on AM Arizona which airs from Prescott, Arizona on cable channel 27, hosts Tonya Mock and Lew Rese and I will focus on specific things you can do to reverse the negative effects of the daily news.

Undoubtedly, you have heard, or maybe you have said it yourself, that “they” only report bad news. Maybe you have even asked, “Why can’t they tell us good stuff?” Well, there is a very good reason why “they” can’t tell us good stuff. You would not tune in to the television, you would not buy the newspapers, and you would not click through to a story headline if it was good news. Science has borne out this fact in several studies. So, in reality it is not “them” doing it to us…it is us doing it to us. I’ll get to that in a moment. In the meantime, know there is something YOU can do each and every moment you hear troubling headlines or a news report that disturbs you. Now that should be good news!

1. Play a game by neutralizing the headline. Yes, make it a game. See how good you can get. The only rule is to change any headline into a neutral statement. By doing that one thing you are automatically a winner!
2. Take and action of service. An action of service is an action that helps someone who may be affected by the negative headline.

Why do I say it is us doing it to us? Once you become aware that some person or situation is a certain way and you don’t change how you interface with that person or situation, you are actually the person causing the issue. I know that is painful to hear. I have files filled with clients who complain about uninvolved, underproductive employees, board members who do not cooperate, or business partnerships that are intolerable and cause daily psychological and sometime physical, pain. Yet they take no action other than to talk about it.

That is the same way with negative news reporting. It is a fact. What is missing is your acceptance of that fact. Acceptance is not acceptance that it is the right way to report the news. Acceptance is releasing the resistance you have that news is reported negatively and instead taking one of the actions listed above to neutralize the effect the news has on you. What you resist, persists. Where you put your focus gives you your result. Action is the best antidote to a negative reaction.

Example: U.S. skipper’s escape bid fails (LV Review Journal headline April 11, 2009). Although we all now know this situation ended safely the next day, however on Saturday morning if you read that headline you most likely felt helpless, even victimized, and angry that American’s were yet again under attack. So what could you have done? You could have done to reverse those feelings? Here are some suggestions: You could have stopped and said a prayer or sent good mental thoughts for the skipper’s safe return; you could have written a note to his family; you could have called a group of friends and gathered to do one or both of the preceding suggestions.

By doing any of the suggested activities you would have immediately stopped the feelings of helplessness, and began to create feelings of being in control. It is that simple. That is why action is so important when you begin to feel helpless.

For more ideas about what you can do, I suggest you read Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How Of Happiness. She lists twelve proven techniques to begin the process of reversing negative thoughts and ways to increase optimism and general mood.

With appreciation for your readership,
Andrea T. Goeglein, Ph.D.
866 975 3777
www.ServingSuccess.com