Having a positive mental attitude is important for our physical and emotional health, but sometimes, being upbeat can feel as impossible as climbing Mt. Everest. The thing is, positivity helps us deal with setbacks and bounce back from them more easily. We all have negative thoughts and they’re normal, but we need less negative thinking and it’s actually possible to trick your brain into being more positive.
According to neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson, our brains only need 12 seconds to build new connections between an experience and an emotion. So when you feel sad, frustrated, jealous or anxious, try this 12-second trick to bring you back to a more positive place.
- To do it, spend at least 12 seconds thinking about a positive memory, image or relationship.
- Sit with it, focus on all the reasons your brain classifies it as something good.
- Continue doing this anytime you feel yourself veering into negative territory.
- Over time, your brain will train itself to look on the bright side, instead of dwelling on the negativity.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to ignore bad things, sometimes they come up and we have to deal with them. But this trick can help rewire your brain to lean into positivity, instead of negativity. And that can only help when we face challenging situations.
Source: PureWow