Why Do We Share More Bad News Than Good?

As part of the challenge in creating a new job definition for myself, I am having to reach out and ask others to share my videos.  While no logic is there in why this is SOOO hard for me, I am also finding a different kind of wall that I am hitting - that we are quick to share the negative, but not so much of the positive.

If you look at top news stories, the most viral of videos, and other fast moving ideas that are shared so easily now around the internet - what do they mostly consist of?  Humor (though it is often humiliating for the main target), Humiliation for the latest celebrity, or Gossip - sharing others pain to avoid our own.

While you will see the passing around of heartfelt videos and stories, they just don't have the same long term traction that the other kind of stories hold.  When on the phone what has more drama and excitement to share than why Whitney Houston died yesterday vs. a new discovery that will help a stranger you will never meet heal?

It must take an intentional action to share what is good and there is a very important reason why - because what we share we make more of.  Share another's pain and you've just invited more into your own life.  Judge another's mistakes and you've just invited that judgment into your life also.

But share love, joy, happiness, freedom - all that is good and yes, the same principle works, you've just invited more of that into your life!  No, it's not as fun as talking about the humiliation of another, but what joy do you have in someone else discussing YOUR humiliating moment?

It isn't hard to share what is good, but it is hard to remember to share what is good.  Like any habit we are trying to break, it requires a purposeful decision to choose to do the new and not the old.  What can you share today that will bring more joy into your life and into the world?