Thursday Thoughts on Thriving: Thriving in the Midst of Political Mudslinging

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you wind up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato

How can you thrive and still participate in the political process, in the midst of all the political mudslinging? Here are some ideas:

• Mute the TV during those commercials (or skip them with your DVR or streaming) Even if it is aligned with your political beliefs, if it is negative or full of fear statements they can pull you into a spiral of negative emotions.
• Minimize your exposure to the news and balance your time with multiple sides of the issues so that you get as much accurate information as possible.
• Keep an open mind and do your homework about the candidates for the offices and propositions on your ballots by looking at different sites on the internet. This allows you to see a lot more information than what can fit into TV sound-bites.
• Resist giving unsolicited advice to those around you who seem to be overly passionate about their views or beliefs and instead lead by example with your ability to keep an open mind and listen to different perspectives.
• If a friend or family is focusing on the negative or fear-based messages and you feel your blood pressure rising or buttons being pushed then take a deep breath and reply, “that’s interesting.” I came across this great link of a guy showing how to recover and reply to anything, “4 Magic Phrases”
• Shift to an attitude of gratitude for our freedom of speech and willingness to accept different views. People who have grown up in other countries have noted how wonderful it is that we can be completely opposed on political views and still be good friends and share a meal. This is not the case in many other parts of the world.
• Finally, keep laughing and lighten up when you feel it becoming overly heavy. Your brain will work better and you will be happier too. “Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to become defeated.” – Will Rogers

I had the opportunity to moderate many of the Arizona State legislative debates this year and two years ago. It has required me to become more bipartisan and neutral in order to give all the candidates fair support and to keep the audience under control. In a recent debate, the tension was very high. I did not hear the specific statements (I deliberately try not to listen to stay as neutral as possible) but I could hear the tone shift and the energy tense up in the room when a candidate went on the attack. And the reverse, when a candidate focused on an issue and stated that he was friends with all the candidates, there was a bit of laughter and relief in the air. Moderating has been a mind-opening experience in recognizing these tensions when I am not paying any attention to their political affiliation.

Here’s to your thriving, even in the midst of all the mud and Happy Voting!

photo credit via Flickr Creative Commons: rstraswser