It is easy to focus on the negative. There is a lot of it in the world. And the negative sells. It is why the news either on tv or in our social feeds feature the tragedies, the shocking events or even the thing to be feared. What compounds the feelings for us is, as people, we are programmed with a negative bias because we used to need it so survive. When our ancestors on a savannah in Africa 30,000 years ago didn’t see a threat, a tiger had lunch. Rewards and opportunities could be tuned out because another one was likely to happen again in the future. But if you missed a threat, the consequences were dire. You may have heard of the fight or flight response. This is where it all started and has helped our species survive.
In 2020, there aren’t tigers around the corner downtown anymore, but we carry with us this negative bias. It is why sometimes you only feel like bad things are happening. To combat this, we have to train our brains to focus on the positive. That means we have to work at it, but when we do, we start to see opportunities. Maybe we see new opportunities with our money, with relationships or in other parts of our life. These new opportunities could be the key to unlock more happiness and more financial success.
How do we work at it? I like this activity called 2 for 1. For every negative event or experience we have, let’s scan the world for 2 positives. And they don’t have to be big things. Seeing a random act of kindness. A baby with a super cute smile. Riding home and seeing a perfect sunset. When we are practicing the 2 for 1, I encourage you to write down your positive things each night at the end of the day. Do it for a week and see how you feel. I bet you will find the world has lots of good things that are happening each day.
Don’t have time to write it down? Here is an even simpler happiness hack. Dr. Rick Hansen has a practice he calls “Taking in the good”. When you see something good or positive, he recommends savoring the experience for 15 seconds to counteract our brain’s negative bias. Only 15 seconds! This gives your brain time to observe, process, feel and store the positive event. And your brain can do all that in just 15 seconds, but you have to stop and give yourself the time.
The more we take in the good over time, the more our brains start to scan for and focus on the positive. But just like we have to train our bodies, we have to train our minds. If we don’t practice and train, we will rely on the programming and negative bias from our shared past.
I hope you will #Look4Good and let me know how you feel in a comment here or on our social media channels.