Negativity is a bigger part of our daily lives than we realize.
It seems to be catching everywhere we turn. The problem with being surrounded by negativity is that we become what we surround ourselves with.
As Jay Shetty says in his new book, Think Like a Monk, We all know that one person who always seems to have something going wrong in their lives. Nothing is ever going right, and they’re quick to tell anyone who will listen. Although they often come looking to vent and get support, they never return the favor. If we aren’t careful, their negativity will bleed into our lives.
Jay Shetty’s Experience With Negativity
In Chapter 2 of Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty lets us in on a true life example of how he dealt with negativity after leaving the ashram. During his time as a monk, Jay Shetty became very sensitive to gossip and negativity. It wasn’t easy navigating the negativity he faced in the workplace after he left the ashram.
It seemed like every conversation during breaks, lunch, or around the water cooler quickly turned into gossip. Instead of joining in, he started working to shift the gossip towards something positive. When he did this, the people around him began to recognize that he didn’t participate. Eventually, they quit gossiping around him.
But what about the rest of the world? In his book, Jay Shetty dives into how to overcome and deal with negativity to keep peace in our lives. It’s not easy. Every day, we are assaulted by negativity in a variety of ways – gossip, complaining, and comparison, to name a few. It creeps in casually. In the moment, we don’t always realize how negative a conversation or program might be until we feel ourselves falling into the trap of negativity. Until we take a step back, it can be hard to see how it even started. We had a great morning, but then our day derailed somewhere along the way. How do we cope and move out of this?
How Much is Too Much?
Research has shown that even the smallest amounts of negativity can have an impact on our health, immune system, and mental fortitude1. Negativity can cause us to feel more forgetful or make us more prone to illness. The cycle will usually start to repeat itself as we stress over the impacts without ever addressing the root cause. When we stay in this cycle and allow those around us to perpetuate it, we can spiral until we become that negative friend who never has a positive thing to say.
Our brains are designed to work to make us more like those that we are around.2 If we are around negativity, we will become more negative. If we surround ourselves with uplifting people and messages, we will become more positive.
