Do you share selfies on Facebook regularly? Do you post your problems, stresses and challenges regularly? Do you post a mix of some of the good and lots of the bad events in your life? Are you sharing how sick you feel or how much a body part is hurting? Do you share cartoons or sayings that depict others as being a stupid or unhelpful, or maybe ones that portray yourself as being sarcastic or grumpy
Facebook is a place where people can share to the world at just the click of a button. It’s so easy to click and share. Where once we chatted on the phone to one good friend, or a coffee date with a couple of close BFF’s, we can now shout out to hundreds or even thousands!
There is a downside to this ever so simple past time. What you focus on is what you will get.
Very few people are fully aware of how much of an impact the Law of Attraction has on their day to day life. Whether we are doing it knowingly or unknowingly, we are acting as human magnets sending out our thoughts and emotions and attracting back more of what we have put out. Consequently, it is all too easy to leave your thoughts and emotions unchecked on a quick Facebook share. This sends out the wrong thoughts and attracts more unwanted emotions and events into your life.
Whatever you talk about, or as with Facebook, write about is what you will attract into your life. I prefer to use the Law of attraction, but there is also what's known as the Negativity Bias. This is where you turn on a part of your brain that looks for these negative things. It’s like a little radar looking for negativity everywhere.
The more you tell the world about all your stresses and problems, the more your radar will be looking for stresses and problems, and because you build these neural pathways, the better your radar will get at finding them.
If you keep telling the world how much your life sucks, then guess what? The more its going to suck!
Always justifying why you can't do things? Your radar will be tuned to all the things you can't do so you will struggle to find the things you can do.
Posting selfies regularly? Then don’t be surprised if you are often on your own. After all, you are focussing on you, and only you. Your energy is focussed on yourself, so you will gets lots more of that!
Always talking about being unwell? Your energy will be feeling unwell and your body will feel the affect of this negative energy and respond accordingly.
If the people around you appear stupid or useless and you keep writing about it, the more of these people you will seem to attract.
Are you often posting that you are sarcastic or grumpy, then don’t be surprised if you don’t have many friends, or if you do then they are probably all sarcastic and grumpy!
Of course I am not advocating never talking about your issues and troubles, but save it for your few close friends, or a professional. Instead of shouting it out to however many hundreds of friends you have, just sit down with one or two close friends. Discuss it and sort out what can be done about it.
My challenge to you is to firstly spend the next week noticing what thoughts you are about to share on Facebook. Are they are about the things you want more of in your life? Or are they things you would prefer to see less of? Then start to think about what you want in your life, and reframe your thoughts towards those things you would like.
Training your brain to see the positive in everything allows room for mental growth and happiness, which in turn can improve your physical health. Your neural pathways can be switched on to look for the things you want, but it will take time and practise to build these up to where it is an unconscious habit. After all it took years for you to develop the negative neural pathways.
And I am aware that life can throw up some pretty horrible and devastating things, and these will affect us. And by all means share these with the world, but just notice how much you dwell on them later. Once the dust has settled and you are getting a handle on the tragedy, start seeing where the positives are. As the saying goes 'if life hands you lemons, make lemonade'. The better you are at looking for positives on a daily basis, the easier this will be. This is part of what being resilient is about. It will help you to move on more easily than if you are caught in the Negativity Bias.
So If you want more fun in your life, start sharing the fun things you do or even fun things that make you laugh. If you want better health share how well you felt for the day, even if it was just for a short time.
Someone once told me that you should only share things on Facebook that either make you laugh, learn or love. We could include in that things of beauty and joy. Imagine how our world would look if we had more of these, both individually and collectively. I know what I want to attract, do you?
Louise Atkinson is a registered counsellor with the Australian Counselling Association, but most of her sessions are assisted by her herd of horses as she is a trained Equine Assisted Psychotherapist.
