Put On Your Positive Pants

The Negativity Bias

I posted on Instagram recently about negative events and why it’s often so much easier to be negative than it is to be positive. The negativity bias dates back to caveman days. We were designed to be very aware of negative circumstances and their consequences to help us survive.

Nowadays this negativity BS is not quite so useful. Yet, negative events remain sticky. That is, they are stored in our brains for a long time. The thing you said. The mistake you made. All of the shoulda, coulda, wouldas. They stay with you and haunt you, right?

Yet, for a positive event to really stick we need to actively think about it much longer. We need to acknowledge the positive event and sit there for awhile for it to really take residence in our memory bank.

Start to Notice Your Negativity

If you’ve been feeling negative lately, give yourself a little grace. We have centuries of evolution to overcome. If you’re not used to this whole shifting your perspective to see the positive in a situation, it can feel hard and awkward even to put on your positive pants.

My advice. Start small and notice when you’re being negative. Your negative attitude will show up a lot more than you think, even if you’re one of those positive sunshiney people. I find I’m generally a positive polly (is that even an expression?), yet multiple times a day I have conversations where I’m end up thinking, man I could have spun that one a little different.

This type of thing happens a lot with weather. It’s too cold for about 6 months straight. Then it’s too rainy for awhile. Then it’s too hot for a few months. There’s always something to complain about, right? Notice the small things like when you complain about the weather or the service at a restaurant. Can you start to appreciate the slow service which means you get to spend more time with your friends? Can you dismiss the ugly gray skies on a cloudy day to focus on the fact that it’s not freezing out?

Put On Your Positive Pants

Same with your relationships and your food. I talked about doing a spring detox last week. If you missed it, don’t worry. I haven’t lost it and I’m not saying you gotta go on some weird juice cleanse. If you do, stay away from me, ya grump!

What I meant by a spring detox was more in line with spring cleaning your life. I suggested you use this freeing time of year to start de-emphasizing the relationships, habits, tasks and even material things, that are weighing you down in order to make room for the best things.

You’re not going to find all of this easy at first. Distancing yourself from people is hard. Changing health and fitness habits is hard. Switching careers or finding a new job in the same industry takes time, work and patience. Getting rid of stuff that’s no longer serving you can be emotional and hard sometimes too! And you better believe switching your mindset from negative Nancy to positive Polly will be work. But you aren’t afraid of hard work, right?

{Side note: I actually said “stuff” on a job interview once and THAT was the reason I didn’t get the job. Fifteen years later I still remember it and just had the story run through my head as I typed it above. How’s that for sticky!!!!!}

Have a great week. It’s time to snap outta that winter funk, do some spring cleaning, and let go of things that are no longer serving you, like that nasty bad attitude.