I would like to share with
you an article written by James Clear about How Positive
Thinking Builds Your Skills, Boosts Your Health, and Improves Your Work.
Positive thinking sounds
useful on the surface. (Most of us would prefer to be positive rather than
negative.) But, “positive thinking” is also a soft and fluffy term that is easy
to dismiss. In the real world, it rarely carries the same weight as words like
“work ethic” or “persistence.”
But those views may be
changing.
Research is beginning to
reveal that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy or
displaying an upbeat attitude. Positive thoughts can actually create real value
in your life and help you build skills that last much longer than a smile.
The impact of positive
thinking on your work, your health, and your life is being studied by people
who are much smarter than me. One of these people is Barbara Fredrickson.
Fredrickson is a positive
psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina and she published a
landmark paper that provides surprising insights about positive thinking and
it’s impact on your skills. Her work is among the most referenced and cited in
her field and it is surprisingly useful in everyday life.
Let’s talk about
Fredrickson’s discovery and what it means for you…
What Negative Thoughts Do to
Your Brain
Play along with me for a
moment.
Let’s say that you’re
walking through the forest and suddenly a tiger steps onto the path ahead of
you. When this happens, your brain registers a negative emotion — in this case,
fear.
Researchers have long known
that negative emotions program your brain to do a specific action. When that
tiger crosses your path, for example, you run. The rest of the world doesn’t
matter. You are focused entirely on the tiger, the fear it creates, and how you
can get away from it.
In other words, negative
emotions narrow your mind and focus your thoughts. At that same moment, you
might have the option to climb a tree, pick up a leaf, or grab a stick — but
your brain ignores all of those options because they seem irrelevant when a
tiger is standing in front of you.
This is a useful instinct if
you’re trying to save life and limb, but in our modern society we don’t have to
worry about stumbling across tigers in the wilderness. The problem is that your
brain is still programmed to respond to negative emotions in the same way — by
shutting off the outside world and limiting the options you see around you.
For example, when you’re in
a fight with someone, your anger and emotion might consume you to the point
where you can’t think about anything else. Or, when you are stressed out about
everything you have to get done today, you may find it hard to actual start
anything because you’re paralyzed by how long your to–do list has become. Or,
if you feel bad about not exercising or not eating healthy, all you think about
is how little willpower you have, how you’re lazy, and how you don’t have any
motivation.
In each case, your brain
closes off from the outside world and focuses on the negative emotions of fear,
anger, and stress — just like it did with the tiger. Negative emotions prevent
your brain from seeing the other options and choices that surround you. It’s your survival instinct.
Now, let’s compare this to
what positive emotions do to your brain. This is where Barbara Fredrickson
returns to the story.
What Positive Thoughts Do to
Your Brain
Fredrickson tested the
impact of positive emotions on the brain by setting up a little experiment.
During this experiment, she divided her research subjects into 5 groups and
showed each group different film clips.
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