Living Life by Design

There’s a scientific reason why negative inner voices get more air time in your head than positive ones. Our brains are hard-wired to continuously scan for potential threats.

Such focus on the possible worst-case scenario contributed to the survival of our early ancestors. Those who were nervous, tense and attentive to possible danger had a better chance of living to see another day.

As a result, the human brain evolved with a bias toward the negative. Studies show that we recognize and respond more quickly to an angry or sad face, than a happy face. Negative ads and headlines draw more of our attention. Our own shortcomings are far more apparent to us than our achievements. We notice lack more than abundance.

This inherited feature drives us to continuously look for and remember bad news, danger, difficulty, conflict and disappointment – even though it makes us feel bad to do so.

The only way to overcome our internal bias and that of our world is to learn to generate a positive emotion. If we don’t, we will be lead by the default. We’ll lower our expectations, reach for a false sense of security and compromise on our goals. We fall short of our potential.

Here are some ways you can practice self-generating a positive emotion:

Focus your attention on a feeling of appreciation, care or love for someone or something in our life.

Imagine a place that makes you feel relaxed or happy and re-experience the feeling you have when you’re there.

Recall an accomplishment and allow yourself to wallow in the good feelings it brings.

Or, simply recreate a feeling of calm or ease, such as sinking down into a warm bubble bath at the end of a cold day, and sustain that feeling.

The most important thing is that you do not just think the feeling, but that you feel it, amplify, absorb it and experience it.

Try jotting down up to 3 words that describe the negative feeling you have. Then, jot down 3 words you would prefer to be feeling. Spend 2-3 minutes thinking of the positive words. Do your best to FEEL these feelings. You’ll like the result…