I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about how the information that we allowing to our brain can “tell us that things away worse than they actually are”.
It’s a fairly regular conversation that I have with people.
Hopefully as a degree of an antidote the prevailing message that they are receiving that everything’s awful and things have never been worse.
I was only chatting about this to my old school mates when we’re out in Birmingham the other week.
Before continuing, I’d like to make it perfectly clear that I don’t think things are perfect.
There’s a lot of work to do in a lot of areas.
People are facing a lot of challenges.
I get that.
But that doesn’t automatically mean everything’s awful and things have never been worse.
There is something between perfect and awful.
I was questioning my friends talk about how bad things in the world are.
And my friend brought up a phrase I’d not heard before.
About how modern people live better than the kings of the past.
And whilst I wouldn’t go that far, it was an interesting way to look at it.
In 1800 5% of the world’s population lived on cost adjusted $2 a day.
That’s $2 a day in modern money.
Child mortality is the lowest it’s ever been in every country in the world.
Medicine has massively reduced mortality from many diseases.
Many things that didn’t exist 100 years ago and were luxury 50 years ago are now fairly commonplace.
Central heating, mains electric, various labour saving appliances, assorted means of entertainment and much more.
Human rights and equality is unrecognisable from when our Grandparents were little kids.
I can just imagine the look that my Grandpa would give me if he were still around and ever caught me whinging about life now compared to when he was a boy.
Again, none of this means I don’t think there’s still work to be done, but I can’t buy into “things have never been worse”.
What can underpin our feelings in that direction (as well as the constant inputs mentioned yesterday) is an element of taking things for granted.
The stuff that’s between ok and good in our lives quickly gets adjusted to.
Like slipping into a warm bath.
It becomes our new normal.
Less noticeable.
Things we do become “expected behaviour”.
Them happening is barely noticed.
We only pay attention when they don’t happen.
We have to make an effort to notice all these things.
But it’s an effort that’s worthwhile.
I can guarantee that if, every day, you were to write down your three biggest wins for that day……..
And one thing that you appreciative in your life…….
You’d feel better about your life after a month.
And even better after a year.
It starts hard.
Like everything does.
We struggle to think of three things that went well.
But the longer we do it the more we realise that there was plenty there.
We just took it for granted.
Maybe felt it was “too small”.
Not worthy.
But, like anything that starts hard, it gets easier.
If we do it.
Write down three wins each day and one thing you’re thankful for and, if you’re not glad that you’ve done that in in a years’ time, let me know.
And I’ll eat my hat.
Much love,
Jon ‘I’ve been interested learning about the English revolution, Oliver Cromwell, etc from my middle son who’s covering it in History. Which is strange, because I remember being bored to tears when I covered it at the same age’ Hall
P.S. If you try out our 4 Week Transformation programme at RISE and don’t feel much better in a month I will also eat my hat. And give you your money back – because what the guarantee is! It’s www.myrise.co.uk/apply to try that. What have you got to lose?
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RISE in Macclesfield was established in 2012 and specialise in Group Personal Training weight loss programmes for those that don’t like the gym and find diets boring and restrictive!
