Pill here, this year I spent a lot of time asking myself a single question – and to
my surprise - I feel calmer, happier, and more in control of my negative emotions. If
you'd like to feel this way too – pay close attention.
Now what is this question?
If an eagle hunts down a snake is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Some of you might say that it's good – because the eagle gets to eat.
But what I told you that this particular species of snakes is going extinct, it's the rare
rainbow shiny snake, and there's only 3 left in the entire world? Then you might start
thinking...oh then this situation is definitely bad. We don't want yet another species to
go extinct. Right?
But what if it turns out that this eagle has been struggling – her babies back in the
nest have already gone 3 days without food. And they can't hang on much longer. Upon hearing
this...you might start thinking...oh catching that snake is a good thing then. We don't
want baby eagles to die. Right?
Now - the truth of the matter is...to mother nature, all of these scenarios are neither
good nor bad. It's just how it is. Eagles kill snakes, it's what they do. Species go
extinct, that's how evolution works. To mother nature – there is no such thing as good
or bad. Things just happen.
But this isn't the case for us humans.
You see – we came up with the concept of good and bad to help organize our thoughts
and get things done. Back in the day, the ruler of your country or state would say “we
should not do a b and c because they're bad - instead we should be doing x y and z because
they are good”. This way of organizing allowed us to work in huge groups all set on reaching
the same goal.
We were able to out-compete all the other species on this planet because we had the
ability to unite under a banner of quote on quote good to fight the quote on quote bad
with our combined group effort.
Throughout the years – we grew accustomed to labeling the things around us as good or
bad, every single day. Nowadays it's a part of human nature – BUT it's important to
remember that it's still just a figment of our imagination – an opinion.
The truth of the matter is anything can be good or bad.
It all depends on what you tell yourself
For example - if you just got rejected by your crush, you could say that it's a bad
thing because...well it hurts. It's also bad because all those fantasies you've been having
about being with them won't come true
But at the same time you could also say that this is a good thing.
You could argue that getting rejected, and feeling pain, makes you into a stronger person.
It's a driving force for change. Which will make you more attractive down the line.
Whether or not something is good or bad – all depends on what we tell ourselves.
The problem that most of us have nowadays is that we tend to go for the bad label, way
too often. We say to ourselves this event is bad, this
thing I did is bad, this mindset is bad, this trait of mine is bad. This and that is bad
bad bad.
And every time we do this – we bring certain emotions into our lives.
Anxiety, envy, and anger, just to name a few – all appear and grow when we think about
how bad something is.
Now don't get me wrong, these emotions have their purpose.
It's important that we think certain things are bad so that we feel anxious or angry some
of the time. It helps push us to do certain things that
increase our chances of survival.
But when we constantly focus on label most of the things around us as bad – then these
emotions start to consume us. It also brings those around us down. In fact, I'm starting
to think that this is the single least seductive trait one could have. Constantly labeling
things as bad.
So here's my suggestion. The next time you find yourself labeling something as bad over
and over again and feeling really crappy about it – ask yourself a thought provoking question.
The one that I've been using for the past year is the same one that I started this video
out with.
If an eagle kills a snake, is it a good thing or a bad thing? (Now the reason I use this
specific question, is because I came across it many years ago in a book, and it just stuck.
You don't have to use this exact one – you can come up with your own. So long as it gets
you to question just how real the idea of good and bad really are)
The more you do this, the more you'll be able to step back and observe what's going on with
clarity. The more you'll start to realize that most
of the quote on quote bad things in life are just things that happen. Many of which are
to be expected.
And hopefully this realization causes you to seek understanding as compared to being
overwhelmed by negative emotions. Giving you more peace just like it has for me.
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