“𝙉𝙤 𝗚𝗡𝗖𝗖 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖,” he said…

…in response to my question, “How are you showing up in life every day?”

Many years ago, I interviewed Ninad Tipnis, the founder of JTCPL Designs, an author, and an avid runner. He deeply reflected on this question and continued, “𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑨 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑩𝒖𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑮𝑵𝑪𝑪 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.”

So, what is this GNCC? According to Ninad, it’s a phrase he coined — No Gossip, Negativity, Criticism, and Complaint. As human beings, we tend to gravitate towards this GNCC. We get attracted to this. Whenever there is some gossip happening, we automatically want to be a part of that conversation. We want to know what is being said. Negativity is also something that a lot of us want to indulge in. The research community suggests that almost 80% of our daily thoughts are hinged on negativity. The same goes for criticism and complaints.

This is how all of this looks like in our thoughts and in our words:

Gossip: “Hey, I overheard Ankur speaking to corporate travels about expediting the tickets. I am sure he must have got a promotion and might be relocating abroad.”

Negativity: “I’ve been bad at every single job I’ve had. I will never get through this.”

Criticism: “Ugh, you always leave your dirty dishes in the sink.”

Complaint: “I’m always running into problems. Look at this huge traffic jam ahead.”

Ninad added, “𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 (𝙂𝙉𝘾𝘾) 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝑵𝑪𝑪. 𝑩𝒖𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌.”

That’s true — we are all humans. Every day we are assaulted by negativity, criticism, complaints, and gossip from all directions. They can totally surround and absorb us if we are not conscious of them.

And maximizing your mindset for positivity starts inside of us first. Looking for others to be different or change in order for you to be positive and optimistic is giving away your personal and spiritual power.

So, what are some of the ways you are improving your mental health and maximizing a positive mindset?

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This interview was part of my book, MAKE IT HAPPEN! Empowering Stories of 9 Uncommonly Common People Living Their Purpose. It is a free ebook and can be downloaded here.

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First published on LinkedIn.