Happiness Through Rewiring your Brain!
Our brains are hard wired for “fight or flight.” For years scientists new little about the brain but within the last 20 years they have made great progress. Our brains have actually tripled in size over the past three million years. How can this progress benefit us?
Remember we have a “built in negativity bias” meaning we are always scanning a situation for danger. Our ancestors had to be on the look out for attacks by animals or other clans. We automatically look for what is wrong in a situation (rather than what is going right). Did you ever come home from work and look at everything your spouse or child hasn’t done? Do you do this with co-workers and friends? Do you walk into a room and begin to immediately scan for the threat? Scan for what is not the way you want it to be. The dishes weren’t done, your husband didn’t take out the garbage, your child didn’t do his homework and many other “threats” are looming. The funny thing is that this type of thinking is automatic so you have to consciously make an effort to even recognize it. This type of thinking only stirs up negative emotions inside you. It darkens your world. Our brains are programmed this way so it takes conscious effort to practice savoring good moments and thinking about what you are grateful for.
A Few Tips:
Recognize Automatic Criticizing Next time you feel like criticizing someone let it go and connect with the person on something positive.
Recognize Automatic Judging Constantly judging others can wear you down. Did you ever hear of the saying “live and let live?” Have you ever felt happy after gossiping about someone? Probably not, judging others only brings misery upon you.
Acceptance of What’s Happening Learning to accept what you are experiencing and dealing with in the present moment can reduce negative emotions. Letting go of constantly “wishing” things were different can alleviate some of the frustration and unpleasant feelings you are experiencing. Again this doesn’t come automatically you have to practice acceptance.
Stop the Instant Replay in Your Mind Do you ever find yourself going over and over something? Our ancestors’ brains replayed events over and over so they could survive by remembering the various outcomes so they could choose the best steps to take in a dangerous situation.
Some advice? Practice performing random acts of kindness and step out of your head and step into the moment with what you are doing! You’ll find you stir up positive emotions and will feel much better throughout the day!
#happiness #lifecoaching #coaching #mindfulness