Why is it that some people seem to marinate in misery? You know the people I’m talking about. They see the glass perpetually half empty. A cloud seems to follow them wherever they go. It seems they can recall every wrong that has ever been dealt them.
You see these people coming down the isle in the grocery store suddenly the fine print on the toilet paper packaging becomes all engrossing.
I stumbled upon some interesting research conducted by Dr. Jim McGaugh, Research Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior School of Biological Sciences, University Irvine. Dr. Mc Gaugh’s research suggests that adrenaline hormones create stronger memories in the brain than pleasure hormones do.
From a design standpoint, if you want to live a long life, this makes good sense. Adrenaline, along with its stress-released companions, gets your body ready to flee or fight in the face of danger. So being ready to remember and quickly react to life-threatening situations like hungry lions and tigers and bears, kept our ancestors alive (Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this!). This natural selection process has resulted in a population that is hard-wired to pay more attention to the negative and over-look the positive. In fact, there’s even research to suggest that it takes way more positive experiences to outshine a single negative event.
There was a time when looking out for the negative was important for survival. My grandmother used to say, “One bad apple will spoil the whole bunch.” In her day, times were hard and spotting the bad apple before the bushel was destroyed was important. It meant more food on the table during the long cold winters on the farm.
Our media plays on this natural tendency to perceive the negative. And it pays off big-time in advertising revenues as people turn in to learn the-crisis-du jour. This translates into people becoming stressed-out, overly anxious and literally dis-eased.
The good news is there’s hope. It all starts with changing your thoughts.
Tags: brain research, negative thoughts
