It is not always easy keeping a positive focus. We have Alive & Kicking friends who have been affected by the current challenges of our resource dominated economy. We imagine that many of you will have family, friends or friends of friends whose life has been affected too, either through a redundancy or restructure or redeployment.
It’s hard knowing people you care about or have you’ve worked side by side with for years are out there doing it tough.
Sometimes though, these stories can dominate our thoughts to create a distorted view. Bad news travels fast and loud, is repeated and seems to grow with each telling. It makes it hard to keep perspective, especially since good news is often much quieter and somehow less share-able. It’s not often someone catches you in the corridor to say ‘ oooh did you hear, everything is going really well right now’!
We thought we would hunt out some positive focus news facts for you to help balance things up a little.
(The links take you to the research or report behind the fact if you want to go into more detail.)
February 2016
- OK admittedly, oil prices are at very low levels right now, but this keeps our fuel costs low in a transport reliant economy.
- And although the WA economy has slowed, it is still growing and The Reserve Bank of Australia is forecasting economic growth for Australia over the next 4 years
- Our jobless rate is at a 26 month low
- Variable home loan rates are getting down to levels near 4% p.a.
- Tourist arrivals are at an all-time record high as Chinese tourism booms
- Car sales are at a record high
- Our population is booming and has just exceeded 24,000,000
- Our inflation remains low
So, why do we seem to see bad news everywhere sometimes?
Part of our brain is known as the Reticular Activating System – or RAS.
The RAS is the portal through which nearly all information enters the brain. The RAS filters the incoming information and affects what we pay attention to, how aroused we are, and what is not going to get access to our brain.
In any moment there are somewhere between 2 to 11 million bits of sensory information bombarding our sensory data system. If we were aware of all these bits of action and information, we’d go insane! So, we have a RAS to help us filter all this stimulation. Your RAS lets in 5 – 9 bits of information at a moment.
What do you think decides which 5 – 9 bits of information is let through?
It’s our thoughts.
Our RAS filters out everything that doesn’t support our most prevalent thoughts.
Picture this…
If you and I were having a conversation and I told you about my Red Corvette and you began picturing my Red Corvette. What type of car do you think you’d begin seeing on your drive home?
Yes! A Red Corvette. This is your RAS working.
Whatever you think about, your RAS goes to work to attract and filter out everything else.
So when bad news dominates the media, the grapevine and our thoughts, our RAS leaps into action and focuses on filtering to show us what we are thinking of.
The great thing about our RAS is that we can deliberately program it by choosing the exact messages we send from our conscious mind. For example, we can set goals, or say affirmations, or maintain a positive focus.
The theory goes that we can achieve any realistic goal if we keep on thinking of that goal, take action and stop thinking any negative thoughts about it. (Of course, if we keep thinking that we can’t achieve a goal, our subconscious will help us NOT achieve it).
We have the power to make every day a wonderful day; by focusing our thoughts and feelings on good, beauty, love, laughter, peace, and joy!
Our attention of these thoughts and feelings will bring the people, ideas, and experiences of these very thoughts and feelings.
Try to maintain a positive focus and watch what shows up…..
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