Developing A Positivity Habit — Rick Hanson

A friend recommended Rick Hanson recently (thx Marshall). Hanson is a clinical psychologist, and author of the book, Hardwiring Happiness.

Hansen offers this helpful reality (I recognize it in me and others):

Let’s conduct an experiment: Take a moment to think back over your day; which experiences stand out for you?

For most of us, it’s the negative ones. 

Enjoyable, useful experiences—like smiling at a friend, or finishing a task—typically happen many times a day, but they usually wash through the brain like water through a sieve, barely leaving a trace.

Meanwhile, our stressful, often harmful experiences—like getting stuck in traffic, or feeling misunderstood by a partner—routinely produce lasting changes in neural structure or function.

This is your brain’s negativity bias in action.

Positivity is a discipline and practice. This is what I keep learning. Of course there were challenging things in the day — this isn’t about denying such. Of course there was injustice in the day. Again, not about looking away.

Positivity is about looking toward what already exists. Be it the small stuff (I like petting my neighbor’s dog for a few minutes), or the big stuff (a peace accord was signed).

The positivity practice is a deliberate focus on the all of things, including the positive. And making space for that in the brain, in the belly, in the heart. It’s about insisting holism. Or wellism, which is the topic of an upcoming B & B session that brings my friend Marlyn Diaz into the conversation.

Gives me a few ideas for a new exercise I want to try when hosting Pastors later this week. Fun. Here we go.