What do you think is more important?
More positive thoughts or fewer negative thoughts?
Well, many studies show that what matters most isn’t increasing our positive thoughts, but rather reducing our negative ones.
It might seem like they’re practically the same thing, but notice that this isn’t quite the case. If we can’t reduce our negative thoughts, they’ll always be there, even if we try to have more positive thoughts. In other words, their influence will always be felt, regardless of whether we manage to think more about good things.
And there is an explanation for this. Our negative thoughts, as many scientists have already determined, are thoughts that are hidden. They aren’t exactly on the surface, and sometimes not even at the level of our conscious mind.
There is a culture of always being alert to dangers and difficulties. This is how our species—and those who came before us—managed to survive difficult times. When humans were hunters, their survival and sustenance were essential to passing on their legacy to future generations. As such, concern about potentially dangerous factors that put them at risk was always the only intelligent way they had to escape from unfavorable situations with a greater chance of staying safe.
Humans who imagined a tiger in the shadows of the forest, when in fact it was only an antelope—even though they were subject to greater stress—had a higher probability of escaping unharmed, because 10% of the time that shadow was indeed not an antelope, but a predator. These days, that concern may not be as beneficial as it once was from an evolutionary standpoint. And so, if we can direct our concern toward something we can actually change in our surroundings, it ultimately serves our instincts better.
We’re surrounded by negativity, and we don’t even realize it. There are several factors that contribute to this negativity, and I’ll list a few that I think are the most important:
Complaining—Constantly complaining about something we can’t change doesn’t do us any good. For example: “It’s so hot today…”
Criticism—We look at situations and can only point out and focus on the things we think are wrong, failing to see what isn’t wrong, or even what is right. It’s something innate in us, and we end up doing it even to ourselves. We always want to do better, and nothing about ourselves is ever good enough.
Worry—not concern for others, or a parent’s obvious concern for a child’s health or well-being, for example, but rather worry about inflation, the weather, or money. This mindset only leads us to ruminate for hours on end, day after day, about something we won’t be able to resolve if we only look at it from one angle.
Pity—is a destructive process for both parties. Feeling sorry for someone else does nothing to help them, nor does it help us bring out the best in them.
Catastrophizing—looking at everything and seeing only its most destructive side, and magnifying what that side brings us—only leads us to act in a way that makes us part of the problem rather than part of the solution. We continue to spread destruction, negative thoughts, and negativity around us.
Image by Simone Bäcker from Pixabay
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