Lockdown Day 517 - 25 August 2021
Julia Roberts’ character, Vivian, said in the movie Pretty Woman (1990), “The bad stuff is easier to believe. You ever notice that?” Her character was right, and one of the reasons for this is a predisposition of primitive cave-people genetics to view any crisis as a life or death happening because, back then, it really was.
Another reason is the amygdala, that almond shaped structure (a little clump of cells) in the brain, whose job it is to use two-thirds of its neurons to search for bad news . Have you ever wondered why a person can have a wonderful day with a friend but end up being upset by a small irrelevant remark the friend made?
The reason for that has been proved by amygdala research which found it to immediately process negative experiences, whereas positive events need to be held in awarenes for 12 seconds or more to be actually saved from the short term to long term memory.
According to Kenneth Yaeger, the "good news is we can override this genetic hand we've been dealt, by taking care how we talk to ourselves about our experiences, cultivating a gentle, curious and patient attitude with yourself."
So let's evaluate our experiences and value the ones that have a positive effect and take care to immediately deal with the negative ones by changing their category to "holding cell to be objectively discarded".
Appreciate life and develop the ability to see the negativity bias coming and the wisdom to give the amygdala a stronger positive replacement.
God has designed us to be flexible and neuroplastic, giving us a choice. Use it!
#Ggt
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