Subtle or Obvious, Negativity is a Negative Force
by Miki Saxon
Five years ago I told you how reading a story by Trevor Blake in Inc led me to terminate a 10+ year “friendship” because of the constant negativity.
Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity–including viewing such material on TV–actually peels away neurons in the brain’s hippocampus. “Typically, people who are complaining don’t want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, ‘Isn’t it terrible?’ This will damage your brain even if you’re just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you’ll become the target of the complaint.” the part of your brain you need for problem solving,” he says. “Basically, it turns your brain to mush.”
I recently terminated another long-term friendship for the same reason.
In the original post I ended by saying, “…I’d done the right thing in severing the relationship—even though I did it years later than I should have.”
Obviously I didn’t learn the first time or I wouldn’t have waited so long.
There’s an old saying, “the first time you [whatever] is experience; the second time it’s a mistake, but the third time it’s stupidity.”
I had the experience; now I’ve made the mistake.
Hopefully I won’t hit stupidity any time soon (or later).
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