I've never thought about the phrase "now more than ever" in quite this way before, but you're absolutely right - it's everywhere, and it does carry this underlying message of constant inadequacy and crisis.
Your point about cognitive bias towards negativity is spot on. It reminds me of the old saying, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." We've trained ourselves to look for problems so intensely that we're missing out on acknowledging the good that's already happening around us.
Maybe what we need "now more than ever" is to take a collective deep breath, look around with fresh eyes, and appreciate the good that's already happening. It doesn't mean ignoring real problems, but it might help us approach them with more balance and less burnout.
"The more we focus on negativity, the more we reinforce our collective cognitive bias towards only seeing negativity."
This speaks so much to me Scott. The world is to vast, so complex. Depending on the angle, on the scope, on the reference, the analysis, the end-goal, things could look either terribly well or terribly bad. Learning to actively understand how fine-tuned we are with the lens we choose to see the world through is essential. We need to be able to react fast when there's a threat, but allow our minds serenity to live without a perennial outrage. Finally, it's so important to learn ourselves and teach out children how to critically analyse what we read, consume, and are fed.
Yeah it strikes me that we tend not to teach this particular practice of fine tuning our lenses. Like... I think people understand it conceptually, but actually putting it into practice is the missing piece.
And so everything becomes a louder call for more attention, rather than switching things up.
Scott, another great thought provoking post. As I was reading it I was thinking about the adage in Medicine that one of the defining features of addiction is tolerance—requiring more and more of something to get the same hit. A while back I read a book called 'When Society Becomes an Addict' (see below). So much of what you reference resonates with this. Something I feel we all need to do less of is engage in addictive thinking e.g. making decisions not informed by our deepest values. Why? Well because the opposite of addiction is not sobriety —it's connection. And whether connection to self, or kin, or planet, I feel that might be part of our way out of our current predicatment...
Thanks Mei. I resonate with your point of connection, though it's pinged me off into a slightly different direction. So yes, I fully agree with your notions of connection and embodiment, insofar as we don't focus enough on what connects us, and making the effort to find those points of connection. Instead, the 'now more than ever' mindset focuses on the gap between what we have vs what we still need to do, which naturally highlights disconnection.
I've never thought about the phrase "now more than ever" in quite this way before, but you're absolutely right - it's everywhere, and it does carry this underlying message of constant inadequacy and crisis.
Your point about cognitive bias towards negativity is spot on. It reminds me of the old saying, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." We've trained ourselves to look for problems so intensely that we're missing out on acknowledging the good that's already happening around us.
Maybe what we need "now more than ever" is to take a collective deep breath, look around with fresh eyes, and appreciate the good that's already happening. It doesn't mean ignoring real problems, but it might help us approach them with more balance and less burnout.
Thanks for this perspective shift Scott!
My pleasure! And here's to all of us putting down our respective hammers!
Great article bud, loved it. ❤️
"The more we focus on negativity, the more we reinforce our collective cognitive bias towards only seeing negativity."
This speaks so much to me Scott. The world is to vast, so complex. Depending on the angle, on the scope, on the reference, the analysis, the end-goal, things could look either terribly well or terribly bad. Learning to actively understand how fine-tuned we are with the lens we choose to see the world through is essential. We need to be able to react fast when there's a threat, but allow our minds serenity to live without a perennial outrage. Finally, it's so important to learn ourselves and teach out children how to critically analyse what we read, consume, and are fed.
Yeah it strikes me that we tend not to teach this particular practice of fine tuning our lenses. Like... I think people understand it conceptually, but actually putting it into practice is the missing piece.
And so everything becomes a louder call for more attention, rather than switching things up.
Scott, another great thought provoking post. As I was reading it I was thinking about the adage in Medicine that one of the defining features of addiction is tolerance—requiring more and more of something to get the same hit. A while back I read a book called 'When Society Becomes an Addict' (see below). So much of what you reference resonates with this. Something I feel we all need to do less of is engage in addictive thinking e.g. making decisions not informed by our deepest values. Why? Well because the opposite of addiction is not sobriety —it's connection. And whether connection to self, or kin, or planet, I feel that might be part of our way out of our current predicatment...
https://www.amazon.com.au/When-Society-Becomes-an-Addict/dp/0062548549
Thanks Mei. I resonate with your point of connection, though it's pinged me off into a slightly different direction. So yes, I fully agree with your notions of connection and embodiment, insofar as we don't focus enough on what connects us, and making the effort to find those points of connection. Instead, the 'now more than ever' mindset focuses on the gap between what we have vs what we still need to do, which naturally highlights disconnection.