In our quarantine-imposed isolation, we’ve been surrounded by headlines, personal predicaments, and enough ‘cultural’ noise to drown in.  It has not all been good news.

Is the world really getting worse every day?  Are things going downhill as quickly and drastically as it might seem?  Is it all bad news or could some distortion be hijacking our emotions? 

A line of dialogue in a movie resonated in my memory when one character (a Newsman) said to another …“ If it bleeds – it leads”.  

It makes sense to report those things that grab our instinctive attention (the negatives). There is a reason for that type of “newsworthy” wisdom, but is it a healthy stance to cling to?  

We have a protective, built-in instinct to scan for dangers and bad news. This is so that we can avoid (or minimize) risk and/or ‘fix’ the bad stuff. 

Researcher, H. Rosling (Factfulness) explains risks of common thinking errors linked to what he identified as our ‘negative bias’. 

It is reasonable to shout a warning in times of real and immediate threat.  But we get into trouble when we hold on to our ‘CRISIS’ response too long, or yell ‘FIRE’ when there is no real danger. 

An Emergency response can be life saving. But sustaining that response beyond it’s reasonable, beneficial limits can be threatening instead.  

A ‘negative bias’ can create loss of balance. As we look at our world (scanning for danger), we tend to find what we’re looking for and see what we fear.  We may miss the ‘good stuff’ that is less dramatic but equally real.  We need perspective.  

Philippians 4:8 offers that. We are urged to focus our attention on  whatever things are true, honest, just, or lovely. That’s not a request to wear blinders or to practice denial of things that may be the opposite. No. We do need to look at what needs fixing.  But we also need to keep the ‘good stuff’ in mind too. 

Have you noticed that what we focus our attention on – seems to grow?  It’s true.  We can wind up with a distorted sense of the size or intensity of our problems and lose track of our positive abilities to cope with them, or find our energies and efforts aimed at the wrong priorities. 

When we step back for a clear view – we realize that the “awful” isn’t all  that exists.  It’s real , but so is the rest of life. This allows us to tackle our issues more realistically, and to maintain and enjoy the positives too.

Next time the ‘bad stuff’ gets me down …  I want to take a mental step back and seek something positive, or at least question my perspective. I’ll take a few deep breaths and recall that our built in ‘negative bias’ is not a personal defect – it’s a protective instinct that may be working overtime.  

Let’s soak in the possibilities of the ‘good stuff’ – pray for wisdom — then look again at the issue, and get ready to handle it from a more balanced position.  

Blessings, Love and Laughter to you,

Margaret