There’s No Pleasing Some People

Recently I did a podcast with Jordan Peterson’s daughter, Mikhaila Fuller. If you haven’t heard of Mikhaila, I think you would really like her story. TED talks actually banned the talk she gave at one of their conferences.

To me banning a video makes it even more interesting.

Mikhaila was on the brink of suicide due to all the chronic conditions she had. She was wracked with pain and discomfort struggling just to get out of bed in the morning.

Then she discovered the carnivore diet. Specifically the Lion Diet which is just beef, salt and water.

Today she is a beautiful young lady who was able to have her first child. Something the doctors said she would never be able to do.

Anyway. So she posted the podcast on several social media platforms. You can watch it on YouTube here:

She also posted the podcast on Twitter.

She and I received a lot of really nice compliments about it. Maybe some of you commented? Thank you. I really appreciate it.

I also received this very negative comment about the podcast:

Mikhaila herself defended me with a comment to which the person replied:

I have to admit I thought of these comments more than all the good ones. That’s called negativity bias. We all succumb to it. It’s in our nature to focus on the negative instead of the positive.

It’s why we all slow down to look at a traffic accident.

It’s why the news media operates with the motto “If it bleeds, it leads”. They know the ratings will rise much more with negative news than of positive news.

Negative bias is the subject of a book called The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. Here’s a short video by the author.

I see negativity bias all the time with families in my assisted living homes. For example when a resident moves in they will lay a huge guilt trip on their son or daughter.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“You don’t love me.”

The son or daughter feels really bad. Even though they’ve done an amazing job of taking care of their parent for years prior to bringing them to us.

Then the son or daughter is riddled with guilt.

We advise them to just drop Mom or Dad off and tell them they will be back in a couple of days. That gives the resident time to settle into a routine and make new friends.

And they avoid the negative conversation when they return.

Our negativity bias can be used to manipulate us. Politicians do it all the time. If you recognize it, you can think more rationally and overcome it. Focus on the positive. Realize when it is happening. Try to shut out the negative manipulation around you.

I’m working on it as well. Thanks to all the wonderful comments I receive from you in my emails, you are helping me to overcome it.