Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

My hairdresser and I got the giggles recently. I spent a couple of hours in her salon, getting some blonde ‘restored’. We usually catch up and laugh a lot together while she makes me beautiful. Meanwhile, we listened as the local radio station gave news bursts every fifteen minutes, among the lively, jazzy music.

I do scan news headlines every day, but am not a fan of watching or listening to news reports, so the frequent barrage of bizarre events began to weigh me down.

After an hour or so, our mood was quite somber and my friend asked, ‘Are you ok?” My sarcastic response was, “No! The terrorists are out to kill everyone, goopy oil is covering our entire planet, fires, bombs, accidents, and earthquakes are shaking and breaking everything. If we survive any or all of that, we will surely be annihilated by the poor economy, dishonest leaders, health care costs, and the summer heat wave! We are all going to die horrible, tragic deaths!”

We laughed until we cried. What else are hairdressers for, besides glamour?

Negativity had reached its ‘critical mass’ (a phrase frequently used these days) to the tipping point, and we needed to release the tension. No wonder people are overwhelmed and full of rage and hopelessness. Is the whole world really in as bad a mess as our newscasters dispatch?

To what extent do we allow the ‘choosers of news’ to influence our thoughts and emotions? Why is ‘news’ always defined by strictly negative happenings?

I know there is bad stuff out there, but there is also some amazingly good stuff too. What would our outlook be like if our default was to focus on the fabulous, the miraculous, joyful, hopeful things that happen around us every day?

To make it more personal, what if we were to talk to people about the POSITIVE things we see—in them—rather than judge or criticize?

I once heard someone say, “Don’t tell people what’s wrong with them. They already know that. Tell them what they don’t know—the encouraging, sweet things you see in their life.”

Don’t we all need to hear—and share—more good news?

Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?