Criticism.  It seems that everyone is a critic.  We all have opinions and we all wish to express them.  There is nothing wrong with that and some people might think it’s healthy.  There are people who get paid well to be a critic. How do you   get those jobs?  Growing up there was a lot of tough talk on the playground.  Whenever someone would say something mean or   hurtful we would just shout   out, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me” and then the annoying person would just go away.  It seems some things were simpler then or at least somehow I   survived   those   days.

What do we remember anyway?  It seems that   we   remember   criticism a lot more vividly than some of the nice things people have said about us.  It becomes almost a vendetta.  We say to ourselves,” how dare they say that about me, I'll show them!” and then all of a sudden we have a quest to accomplish something.  Prove a point that before the criticism stayed in our mind was never thought about that much before we got   criticized.  Why do we act that way anyway?  Who cares what other people say or think?  The fact is that we do care and can affect us physically and mentally.

At every awards ceremony after thanking God the recipient of the award can be found giving a shout out lifting their trophy forward   while saying, “I dedicate this award to all the people who said I would never amount to anything and here I have an award saying I am the best!” yes we love to show some   payback after being criticized.  To some people it takes a lifetime to finally get that accolade that award.  But it can't be that criticism that becomes the   driving force for our   ambition.  Why are the unpleasant things so unforgettable?

Scientists call it negativity   bias.  The theory is that bad news makes a much   bigger   impact on our brain. Psychologist Rick Hanson PhD..    wrote   a book called Hardwiring Happiness.  His book deals with how we can beat our natural   negativity bias.  The problem is that   we have a brain that is really good at learning from our negative experiences.   It is bad at learning from relatively good experiences.  When people criticize others they don’t take into consideration the other person’s feelings.  They criticize with reckless abandonment.  We have all been criticized in our lives.  But we all don’t deal with criticism in the same way.

Scientists are also looking into how   negative comments can affect the brain. When someone says that you are horrible, that word horrible will stick in your   brain and haunt you.  There are at least two regions of your brain, the Amygdala and the Medial Prefrontal Cortex that work harder  when processing criticism and can keep the brain from doing much else.  It can become all consuming.  It literally effects you to your core.  Maybe that’s why pushing back becomes so much fun.  Not all criticism is bad.  Just look at those movie stars on the red carpet when they have to show up for their   awards.  Hopefully when they are picked upon everyone will agree that they are all so very talented and beautiful.  We all know that even the movie stars are criticized for what they wear and what they do.  Who they love and who they choose not to love.  When they go and where they don’t go.

I feel when it comes to sports people, they are paid   a lot of money for their abilities and for being a role model for younger people.  If they don’t behave well,  they deserve to be criticized.  That is the price you pay for fame.  Be glad that everyone knows your name.  And be proud of the image that people have of you.  Go out of your   way to avoid negative criticism because you are in the spotlight.  Bottom line find  ways to see the positive ways  into everything because you stay healthier if you a smiling and happy.