I broke my own rule.

I used to pride myself on never watching the news. When my friends would start talking about politics or the latest world calamity, I would completely check out. To me, it was my way of protecting my mind, refusing to get caught up in the negativity.

But about midway through the presidential campaigns, I got sucked in. I’m not sure what it was that sparked my new obsession, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the 24-hour news channels. I was hooked.

Maybe half a dozen times a day I would hurl some kind of snide remark toward the pundits of the hour.

This guy … is a COMPLETE idiot.

She never listens to what anyone has to say before it’s her turn to talk!

Wait, this candidate said what?

I watched it at home. Listened in the car. Stayed up late and watched citizen journalism on YouTube.

This went on for about six months. Then I started studying the books of Dr. Joe Dispenza and had a light-bulb moment. I realized that throughout my negative news binge I had become increasingly irritable. I’d become quite negative myself.

Dr. Joe writes about the connection between our brains and our bodies, our thoughts and our feelings. When our brains have thoughts, our bodies cook up chemicals that make us feel a certain way. In other words, the brain sends a message to the body to feel feelings and emotions based on the thoughts we are having at the time.

Think positive thoughts and we feel good.

Think negative thoughts and we feel not-so-good.

Yeah, it’s not rocket science. 

But here’s what else happens. The body can also talk to the brain. So when our bodies have not-so-good feelings (because of our negative thoughts), our brains match those feelings by generating MORE negative thoughts. Or it can do the opposite and match our positive feelings with more positive thoughts.

And here’s the kicker. When we’re consistently feeling negative feelings, our bodies memorize those feelings on a chemical level. Receptors on our cells literally modify themselves to reflect our negative inner chemical state. This is when we get stuck in an endless cycle of negative thinking leading to negative feeling leading to negative thinking.

We become addicted to our feelings, look for things (like negative news) to confirm those feelings, and can’t stop thinking in ways that match those feelings. And since our thoughts and feelings give rise to our actions, we begin behaving in ways that reflect what’s going on within.

Want proof? Just read your Facebook News Feed.

Once I fully understood this concept, I couldn’t help but reflect on how my thinking had changed while I was glued to negative election coverage. I had been slowly creating a new personality for myself based on the entirely negative reality I had chosen to fix my attention on.

As a result of this epiphany I decided to trade in Constantly Negative News for the National Basketball Association, Tucker Carlson for Tony Robbins, and Bill Maher for a good book.

No, I won’t lie and tell you that I never watch the news anymore. That’s because I’m not sure if it’s possible to change the world when you don’t know what’s going on within it. But my days of all-day news watching are over. I’d rather focus on what makes me feel good.

Anyway, on today’s episode of The Quote of The Day Show, our good pal Jake Ducey talks about this very topic and how you can change those negative thought patterns by rewiring your subconscious mind.

You’ll also find out how I used hypnosis to shift my own subconscious patterns and finally write my first book.

Being the generous dude he is, today Jake is offering you a FREE Hypnosis MP3 recording. Don’t forget to grab yours!

Enjoy today’s quote. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

Sean