Daily Reflection
In effect, the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones. That shades “implicit memory” – your underlying expectations, beliefs, action strategies, and mood – in an increasingly negative direction.
—Dr. Rick Hanson
Dr. Hanson goes on say,
And that’s just not fair, since probably most of the facts in your life are positive or neutral. Every day, lots of good things happen, such as a lovely sunset, someone is nice to you, you finish a batch of emails, or you learn something new. And lots of other good things are ongoing aspects of your world (e.g., your children are healthy, life is peaceful in your corner of the planet) or yourself (e.g., personal qualities like determination, sincerity, fairness, kindness).
You might thinking, “I knew it all along, humans are negative!”
And it would it appear that you are in many ways correct.
Through the course of our evolution in chasing rewards and avoiding danger, it has been …
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Pocket Philosopher to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.