How to see the worst in everything to make your life better.

“Think positively!” – Bad guru.

“If you can’t see the negative in everything, you’re screwed.” – Truth Cake.

People make decisions by listing pros and cons. But beyond the surface, every ‘pro’ is a ‘con’ in some way. And every ‘con,’ is a ‘pro’ in an other way. Many times people want to see the good in something that on the surface seems bad. This is helpful, but blinds you from reality if you can’t also see the negative in positive things happening.

Win the lottery? Now you’re spoiled and won’t ever have the pride of having overcome financial adversity.
Get dumped by the love of your life? Now you can find joy in other things.
Get a raise at work? Now you can afford drugs that destroy you.

The goal here isn’t to become some Zen monk that doesn’t see negative or positive, but just “what is.” But the goal is to exercise the ability to see that a pro might be a con, and a con might be a pro, this allows you to make decisions more clearly, especially if you’ve been in the habit of brainwashing yourself to only see positive things in your life by “seeing the good” in everything. Seeing the good in everything is a valuable skill, but so is seeing the bad in everything as well.

By seeing the negative in the positive, you can better prepare to maximize the positive potential. – Truth Cake.

What’s something that you thought was massively good but you later realized was bad, and perhaps you could have seen that more clearly if you looked at both the good AND bad in everything?