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How can I stop focusing on the bad things in life?
You don’t need to be positive all of the time, but a slight shift can help
It’s so easy to only focus on the bad– with a 24-hour news cycle sharing all that is going wrong in the world, or a social media feed that is constantly reminding us of what we are not doing or accomplishing, of course many of us have become primed to focus on the negative.
What makes it more complicated is that intuitively we understand that doom scrolling and social media isn’t great for our mental health, but how can we stop?
Well, maybe some fireflies can offer some insight.
Why Japanese people like to go firefly watching
June 11 marks the beginning of the Japanese microseason (of which there are 72 seasons) kusaretaru kusa hotaru to naru (腐草為螢). It directly translates to “rotten grass becomes fireflies”.
It marks the brief period after spring has done a lot of its growing and shedding, when that flurry of activity has slowed down and is replaced with a bit of peace and quiet.
Because unlike the buzzing of bees or the constant croaking of frogs, have you ever noticed that despite the attention that they get, how quiet fireflies are? They’re silent…
