Embrace YOUR Negativity
Are you investing your most precious resources of time, effort and energy in a way that aligns with your highest values?
If we go with the statistics, your answer to the question above is no. Research shows that our brains react much more strongly to negative experiences than positive ones.
Have you ever found that you can effortlessly rattle off the things you DON’T want but find it near impossible to nail down and get clear on what you DO want?
If your answer is yes, you are not alone!
Psychologists refer to it as negativity bias. As humans, our focus on the negative things in our lives is rooted in how our attention works.
- The brain region that regulates emotion and motivation is the amygdala. The amygdala uses roughly two-thirds of it’s neurons to detect bad news.
- This can have a powerful effect on your behavior, your decisions, and your relationships.
So, how do you bypass the negative to get to the positive? In most cases, it’s easier if you don’t.
EMBRACE THE DON’TS. Rather than fight against your internal nature, make it easy on yourself, save some time, take a cue from the 2011 Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston film and Just Go with it!
My ‘What You Want via What You Don’t Want” tool below will help you quickly weed through the negative you want to expel to identify the positive you want to call in.
- What do you NOT want? Place those thoughts/feelings/tangible things outside the circle.
- What are the opposites of what you placed outside the circle? Place those inside the circle and journal on how to make WHAT YOU WANT come to fruition
