Negativity Can Make You Dumb!

As if aging isn’t enough of a worry, now I have to quit complaining or worry about impacting my wife's intelligence. A recent online article mentioned that research shows that exposure to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/listening-to-complainers-is-bad-for-your-brain.html

Energetically, we know that holding on to our thoughts about the negativity in the world can impact the energy we bring to this moment. It’s understandable that listening and watching negativity can also damage our intelligence.

This damage can apparently happen with just 30 minutes a day of negativity, such as negative talk radio and negative news networks. It explains a lot. I’ve been politically observing this in otherwise, seemingly intelligent people for years (see my blog Whack a Moron). Now I know there is science behind it.

Besides my obviously intelligent, political observation, this is something for each of us to ponder. If negative thoughts make us dumber, it seems obvious to me that positive thoughts will make us smarter. I’m spending my year focusing on the positive thought, so now I can expect to not only be more enlivened but more intelligent. Cool.

This does bring up a challenge for those of you with families; those of you who lead teams; those of you who work on teams – basically everyone. How much negativity are you allowing in your environment? Are you contributing to the negative energy and conversation? What are you doing, personally, to foster positive energy?
In order for everyone on a team to excel; be at their creative best in thought and deed; and contribute to the growth and development of the team, requires both team and individual commitment to on-going positive thinking. Every negative thought or pattern of behavior can be improved by focusing on the best view of the problem or challenge, rather than the negative view.

Positive thinking inside a family or a team requires each individual to be consciously responsible for shifting their thoughts from negative complaining to being kind, collaborative and receptive. Everyone will be smarter for it.

Be positively smarter!