Happiness is contagious and we can literally create a domino effect of happiness and joy when we simply spread some good news around.
For example studies reveal that just reading other people’s positive social media posts triggered happiness in 64% of people. Communicating good news with another person also heightens the impact on us of our positive experiences because we get to relive and feel the effects of our good news all over again as we share it. Meaning the more we share, the happier we’ll get!
Good news can also cause concrete, positive changes in our lives by affecting the thoughts we think. Our thoughts change our biochemistry as our hormones, cells, brain circuitry, and even our genetics are all affected by our thoughts. Scientists are discovering that we can actually positively ‘rewire our brains’ by resolving to focus on things we appreciate and enjoy, instead of those things we fear or dislike.
On the flip side are the effects that bad news can have on us, such as the reports of people feeling depressed or excessively worried after watching the news when it is dominated with a 24-hour cycle of stories about violence, disaster, corruption and war.
The bible teaches, ”For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7), and that “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” (17:22). That’s because God knows how He created us and the importance of us focusing and filling our hearts and minds with good news and things that encourage and give us hope. He wants us to pay attention to good news, for where there is good news there is joy; where there is joy there is hope, and where there is hope, faith is activated and then all things become possible.
With all the positive and beneficial effects of good news I encourage you today to make a decision to focus on and look for good news and those things that generate joy. When listening to and reading the news feeds or paper look for the good news stories; when in conversation listen out for the good not the bad, and when you hear or experience something good, share it with someone. The world is an amazing wonderful place and God is all around us in the very air we breathe. He is working, healing, restoring and releasing the miraculous every single day, but if all we focus upon is the bad news we quite possibly will miss Him working and not believe or recognise His hand at work right in front of us.
Choose to look for and spread some good news today because God is good, happiness is contagious and the world is waiting for us to spread some faith generating joy around.
Prayer: Lord I want to attract and be like a magnet for good news, positivity and the miraculous so that I can share it with others and increase the joy today. In Jesus Name Amen.