Crowding Out The Negative

I've written about the concept of crowding out in previous posts, but always in the context of food: by adding more healthy stuff to your diet, you'll naturally reduce the unhealthy stuff. For example, if you're trying to cut down on the amount of soda you drink, better to gradually "crowd it out" by drinking more water rather than trying to quit soda whole hog and immediately.

I got to thinking how this concept could apply beyond food.

As a health coach, my strategy is to encourage and reinforce the positive versus focusing on fixing the negative: crowding out! There will always be negative presence in your life but how much or how little you feed it determines its effect.

How does this work in the real world? A few examples:

1. I ask my kids every night to tell me three great things that happened during the day. Unfortunately, it's often easier to remember the stuff that wasn't so good, that made them upset, or that disappointed them. But starting with the good stuff always helps crowd out the bad stuff, thereby weakening the effect it has on them. And it makes bedtime a whole lot more fun!
2. I've trained myself to ask my clients "what's new and good?" rather than "how are you?" at the start of every session. It forces them to think about their answer versus the typical knee-jerk "I'm fine" response we always give and get to the latter question. And importantly, it always starts our sessions on a positive note (unless the answer is "absolutely nothing!" - but that hasn't happened yet!), which crowds out the negative and makes our discussions surrounding any issues that much more fruitful. 
3. When taking care of really little ones, crowd out bad behavior. Always better to teach good behavior by acknowledging and encouraging it when it happens, rather than waiting to reprimand and "fix" bad behavior. This is not to say we should just ignore bad behavior, but putting the stronger emphasis on good is much more effective.

What good stuff in your life could you feed right now to crowd out the not so good?