TGIM: Revising Your World View

Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday! Personal development can be cheesy and honestly, the market is so oversaturated with nonsense it’s reasonable to not want to get involved in the first place. But the more you read and listen to how successful people think, the more you start to see the world through the same lens.

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tl;dr The more you absorb about how successful people think, feel, and act, the more opportunities you will see for success in your own life. Our brains look for what’s familiar, so the more you familiarize yourself with success, the more you will see it in the world.

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The human mind tries to rationalize everything it encounters. Those optical illusion pictures made up of some blobs appear like two faces or a wine glass because our minds put meaning to the blobs. If we don’t know the meaning of a word we use the context of the sentence around it. Our minds are rationalizing machines.

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Then we’re given what’s on social media and the news to make sense of, no wonder it seems as if the world is a horrible place that’s full of destruction and hopelessness.
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But the reason people come to that conclusion is because they are making sense of the information they are given. So if you’re reading about wars and watching stories about inflation then you’ll reach a conclusion that things are heading in a downward spiral.

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We know we can’t change the world single-handedly. So then how do we change what conclusions we reach about how the world is?
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We have to change our inputs (so that we can change our outputs).

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And I guess you can go about this in more than one way. The first way you can deal with the negativity of the world is by distracting yourself from it. Read fictional books, watch fantasy movies, listen to music, and keep yourself occupied (and distracted). There are some clear benefits to this: you take in the content you enjoy, you’re not focused on a negative reality, and your dopamine receptors are all jazzed up all of the time.
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However, there are some negatives about keeping yourself distracted. For one, you may not be well-informed. Some people say that’s your civic duty (that’s not my ballpark to be playing in), but being distracted prevents you from learning how to be successful in life. For example, if you don’t know how the stock market works (in the most basic sense of the idea), or how you can improve (or destroy) your credit score, you will never be financially confident. Blissful ignorance may keep you blissful, but it’s also going to keep you ignorant.
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The other way you can deal with the negativity of the world is by immersing yourself in the positive truths of the world. The reason the news doesn’t broadcast as many positive headlines is not because they’re not out there, it’s because negative emotions are more likely to engage our attention. The news is not truly designed to inform us, it’s a business like any other trying to maximize viewing and retention.
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In order to be surrounded by positive headlines and more uplifting stories in the world, you have to create the environment for yourself. Ways to do this are by listening to podcasts, reading books, following certain social media accounts, and obviously reading TGIM (ha). These resources can help you learn about how humans are so resilient, how anyone can become a millionaire, how walking can help reduce your risk of heart disease and tons of other headlines that make you want to go live your life and not hide inside.

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The frequency illusion, also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, happens when we learn about something new and then notice it everywhere. Like when you get a new car, all of a sudden you notice that car everywhere. It’s not actually any more popular than it was before you got the car, but you start noticing it a hell of a lot more.
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We can use this illusion to our advantage. When we surround ourselves with stories about opportunity and success, we start noticing opportunities and success more often. Even though you’re in a situation you’ve been in a million times, if you learn about a new perspective it might shift the entire way you experience the situation.
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The more you inundate yourself with stories of potential, success, discipline, and perseverance, the more you will find those qualities in your life. (On the contrary, if you continue to absorb stories of insufficiency and misfortune, you will continue to see those in the world).
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While we can’t change the entire world, we can change how we see it. In order to do so, you can’t distract yourself from what’s happening and still be successful. You have to surround yourself with the truth about success and happiness in the world today. Opportunities are there for us to take them, but you have to be able to see them first. Continue to surround yourself with stories of triumph and success because the more that becomes the truth that you know, the more it will become apparent that is how the world simultaneously is.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM. Or visit https://walshwellness.weebly.com/ for older editions and if you’d like to subscribe.

This week my podcast recommendation is from Science Vs. “Intermittent Fasting: Hungry for Facts?” This podcast isn’t necessarily the stories of triumph and success that we discussed today but I just love the way they do things. Since we’re getting the itch for the start of the summer season, I thought this would be a good time to debunk all the nonsense diets and exercise fads one Science Vs episode at a time. The hosts are also purely entertaining. Check it out!
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With that, wow I have to say the absolute bliss that this weather brought today is somehow just as miraculous every year it finally breaks 60 degrees. I am so fortunate to have a job that allows me to enjoy some Monday afternoon sunshine. Hopefully, we will be enjoying more of these days very soon!
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Until next time,

Shannon