You Are What You Consume
Priming the mind
“What our consciousness consumes becomes the substance of our life. So, we have to be very careful with which nutrients we ingest.” Thich Nhat Hanh
What would happen if you did not watch, listen to or read the news (including social media) for two weeks? This was the prescription I gave to two clients I was seeing in my private practice. They both came in to see me due to physical and psychological trauma after being in car accidents.
Both had been rear-ended and suffered whip-lash injuries that included pain, severe anxiety, and nightmares. After three months of treatment, they were both better. They were driving again without anxiety, they were back at work and although they continued to experience some pain, it was under control.
Additionally, the nightmares had stopped and they were sleeping well again. Just as I was preparing to end treatment, they both came into my office with all their symptoms back. Their nightmares had returned, their pain was elevated and their driving anxiety was back.
These two individuals did not know each other and neither had been in or witnessed any further accidents. What they did share was an experience we all shared. Their symptoms returned after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. In my discussions with them, I realized that they were glued to the news all day.
They listened or watched in the morning when they were getting ready for work. They listened to the news on the radio while driving to work and they listened, read the paper, and/or watched the news at work and at home after work. Conversations about these events also consumed most of their interactions. I recommended a simple remedy.
News Fasting
No news for two weeks. After following this recommendation all their symptoms significantly reduced again. Their overconsumption of distressing news had, once again, shifted their whole experience of life to one that was unsafe.
This had real effects on them both physically and psychologically. By stopping their negative consumption and refocusing on the tools they had learned through their course of therapy, they returned to health. After the two weeks, they also re-balanced their consumption of information.
Priming
Research shows that both repetitions of words and images in our environment can have an impact on our mood and behaviour. Importantly, most of the time we are not even aware of all the images, thoughts, and words that we are taking in because we receive millions of bits of information every day.
Additionally, we often have a sense that any images, thoughts, or words that repeat must be important otherwise they wouldn’t repeat. It is no surprise then that in military training and emergency settings personnel are taught to repeat important information at least three times.
Moreover, words and images create associations in our minds that bring up similar information. Negative words, thoughts, or images bring to mind other negative experiences of a similar nature multiplying the effect. Justin, a patient I treated in the prison system, for example, struggled with the messages about the violence he heard about himself for much of his life.
This information led him to the same bad choices in his life. That is until he could see that he didn’t have to consume those messages. This brings me to a useful metaphor: you become what you consume, not just in terms of nutrition but also in terms of thoughts and information.
In behavioural research, this kind of influence is referred to as the priming effect. The words or images presented prime us to think and feel a certain way by capturing our attention, especially when consumed repeatedly. Studies have demonstrated that priming can influence how we judge others, whether we indulge in habits or avoid indulgence, how we perform on tests, and can even increase or decrease prosocial responses in certain situations.
Priming is more complicated in real life than it is in research studies but nevertheless, it remains true that what we pay attention to, even unconsciously, can affect our mood and behaviour in profound ways. Advertisers are very familiar with this effect and use it constantly to attempt to influence our mood and decisions regarding the products and services they are promoting.
Negativity Bias
What makes priming more challenging is that we have a negativity bias. Basically, our brain is geared to look for negative information to protect us from danger. This negativity bias helped our ancestors survive immediate dangers, but it lowers our quality of life by affecting our mood and our ability to make good decisions in the complex modern world.
Research in neuroscience and positive psychology has demonstrated that we can compensate for the negativity bias by increasing consumption of healthy information and reducing consumption of negative information.
Indeed, I often prescribe two-week news fasts, social media fasts, and other forms of unplugging to my clients. Although we need to be aware of what is happening in the world and in our communities, all too often the news involves a repetition of mostly the negative events that have occurred and these are often presented in a sensational manner that activates fear and anxiety (e.g., “if it bleeds, it leads” is a common saying in newsrooms).
Similarly, research on the impact of social media is demonstrating that overconsumption of Facebook or Twitter, for example, triggers anxiety as well as jealousy and other negative emotions. On the other hand, unplugging from technology and connecting with nature for four days can boost your creativity by 50%.
The information we take in has real effects on us! Unfortunately, we typically consume most of the information we are bombarded with unconsciously (and a lot of it is negative). Advertisers of course love this, as do politicians. The solution is to pay attention to what we consume, how much we consume, and to spit out anything that “tastes” bad.
Think of it like going to a food court in a mall. There is a wide variety of options. If you’re conscious you can choose the healthier options most of the time.
Please don’t use this principle to avoid any information that doesn’t fit with your current beliefs. We do need to challenge our beliefs so that we don’t narrow our view of what is possible, however, if the information doesn’t nourish your spirit don’t consume it. Basically, you need to consciously examine whether the information coming at you is helpful or harmful to your well-being.
The new knowledge may expand your perspective or be a call to action. However, it may also just promote a negative attitude that shrinks your life. Awareness is the key. If you are feeling stuck, pay attention to what you are consuming and consciously evaluate it.
Psychologist Shawn Achor highlights that successful people do not ignore negative facts. They do, however, attend to their capacity and resources to address those facts. They also look for other perspectives that offer life-affirming information that can be used to help them move forward more effectively. There is a buffet of information to choose from. Choose wisely.
Savour the Positive
In addition to unplugging from negative consumption, it is important to plug into positive experiences. Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson notes that negative information makes linkages more quickly and easily in the brain due to the negativity bias.
He suggests that we must, therefore, consciously look for and savour positive moments so that they too become integrated into the brain. Hanson suggests that taking 10 to 20 seconds to absorb positive information and experiences makes them “stickier” neurologically and more likely to help us balance out the negative information that surrounded us.
To be most effective, it is important for the absorption to be a full mind-body experience. In other words, you must do more than think about the positive experience, you must also feel it emotionally and sense it in the body. For example, how do your muscles feel when you are grateful? How about your organs? Do you feel warm or cool?
Finally, keep in mind that you always consume what you put out. If you say negative things you consume them. If you speak positively, you consume that. As Miguel Ruiz pointed out in his book The Four Agreements, it is important to have integrity with our words because through words we express our intent and help co-create our lives. I encourage you to speak in ways that would add value to your life and to the people around you.
References
Achor, S. (2013). Before Happiness: The 5 hidden keys to achieving success, spreading happiness and sustaining positive change. NY: Random House.
Hanson, R. (2013). Hardwiring happiness: The new brain science of contentment, calm, and confidence.
Ruiz, D. M. (2001). The four agreements. Amber-Allen Publishing.
Thich Nhat Hanh (2007). For a Future to be Possible.: Buddhist Ethics for Everyday Life. Berkeley: Parallax Press.
This is an excerpt from my book CORE Living: 8 Choices for Living Well available at Amazon:
