Be The Chill

I have a new phrase that I'm trying to live by:
Be the chill that you wish to see in the world.

This is 50/50 serious/joking.

I have a theory that we, as humans in an increasingly connected world, tend to fall ever more in to an emotional echo chamber. Over the last maybe 7 years or so I have felt like the societal trend has been towards a very sarcastic, cynical, and honestly downright negative vibe.

Despite a vast abundance of positive stories and amazing accomplishments of our fellow man, we have a tendency to focus very heavily on the negative and perpetuate a generally bleak outlook for the future.  There is actually scientific basis for why this occurs naturally, and why we tend to retain or seek out information that would be classified as negative over the more uplifting.  In my opinion, for all the good the internet is capable of, it serves to perpetuate this and makes us feel much more connected to the bad than previous generations might have.

My call to action is not necessarily to ignore the negative in the world, but more so to not allow it to extend beyond its inherent boundaries.  Make the attempt to limit how much a story or the opinions/actions of another affect your mood from day to day.  Focus on the important things, and little moments that you can be thankful for.  Help somebody else out, or provide some random uplifting words.  You have a lot of control over the tone you set.

Eventually, perhaps the bulk of social media posts will stop foretelling our imminent destruction.