Thinking - Why Do We Believe the Worst About Others?

By CD Mohatta

Try this little experiment. Talk to a friend and tell them something bad about a common friend. Look at how your friend reacts after receiving the news. In all possibility they will believe the worst and may also add something themselves. Now tell them something good about other person. Watch the reaction. It is difficult for your friend to believe that somebody else is so good. Why do we as humans believe the worst and have lot of difficulty in believing that somebody may be very good?

To be spiteful is human nature. I all of us negative emotions and tendencies are more than the positive. Watch children playing or studying. You will se a big amount of selfishness. We get educated to remove these negative tendencies. But education gives us power to think and analyze. It is not easy to remove the bad thought pattern we have. Do you cheer up and become happy when your friend gets a raise? Most of us feel jealous. In a recent survey it was found that men are not so concerned with their pay but how much more they get compared to their colleagues.

Anger, jealousy, back biting are some of the common human traits. We have to fight the negative tendencies of mind and develop positive emotions. Negative emotions hurt our own growth. If I feel jealous because you are earning more than naturally my focus is on you and not on my own growth. This will not help me.

How to reduce negatives from mind? The first step should be awareness. Whenever you get a negative thought, become aware about it. Reflect ob why you are thinking like that. Contemplate about that and try to start thinking positively. It will not happen quickly but as you practice the negatives will slowly give space to positives.

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Thank you GOD