Where to Find Good News — and Why You Should Look for It

by Dr. Larry Richard, LawyerBrain LLC — Monday, April 20, 2020

This morning I joined Cecilia B. Loving as a presenter in a webinar that we presented as part of the NYC Bar Association’s Mindful Mondays series. We called our session Tips for Coping with Coronavirus-Induced Anxiety: What Lawyers Can Do to Thrive During the Crisis. We covered a number of evidence-based strategies that can help lawyers and other legal professionals cope with the stress and anxiety that many have experienced over the past few weeks.

One of our suggestions was to “go on a news diet”, especially before bedtime. In the hours leading up to bedtime, you should avoid exposing your mind to stimuli that can trigger stress, anxiety or fear reactions. Instead, aim for an experience that’s peaceful, relaxing and uplifting.

In addition to avoiding the negative and stressful, you may want to actually seek out good news. As lawyers, we’re trained to look for problems. Many lawyers get very good at noticing what’s wrong, and end up overlooking things that are good. Lawyers are not the only ones who do this. It’s so common, in fact, that a series of websites have emerged whose main focus is on curating good news stories. Here are some of my favorites:

CNN’s The Good Stuff
You can sign up on CNN to get a daily email filled with good news. Go to https://www.cnn.com/specials/us/the-good-stuff.

Some Good News
John Krasinski, from The Office, hosts a 15-minute weekly video session on YouTube with good news. He’s cheerful, upbeat, and has some great items. Here’s a link to his first broadcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5pgG1M_h_U&feature=youtu.be
Once you arrive at this page, you can subscribe to his videocast.
 
Inspire More
This is a website that curates positive news stories.
Go to: https://www.inspiremore.com/
You can also subscribe to a daily email that they’ll send called the “5-minute smile” which contains uplifting news tidbits.
 
Good News Network
Another excellent website that curates daily good news stories.
Go to: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org

As usual, if you have comments or questions, please post a reply.

© 2020 LawyerBrain LLC  –  All rights reserved

Photo of Dr. Larry Richard Dr. Larry Richard

Dr. Larry Richard is the founder and Principal Consultant at LawyerBrain LLC, a consultancy specializing in helping to improve lawyer performance using personality science. Dr. Richard is widely regarded as one of the leading experts on the psychology of lawyer behavior. A former…

Dr. Larry Richard is the founder and Principal Consultant at LawyerBrain LLC, a consultancy specializing in helping to improve lawyer performance using personality science. Dr. Richard is widely regarded as one of the leading experts on the psychology of lawyer behavior. A former trial lawyer, Dr. Richard earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from Temple University. His dissertation research studied the Myers-Briggs personality preferences of over 3000 U.S. lawyers.

Dr. Richard advises the leadership of large and mid-size law firms on people issues–Leadership, Change Management, Professional Development, Motivation, and a range of other aspects of organizational behavior.

He is an expert in the areas of lawyer personality, change management, Positive Psychology, Lawyer Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, group dynamics, and related areas.