To manifest a positive mindset, you have to silence the negative, and science the positive.
The best piece of advice I was given was when I was told that happiness isn’t something you are handed, it’s something you have to create. This was my sudden moment of epiphany. I only realised that much later – not sure if it still counts as sudden. The penny dropped for me many years after the fact. And though I wish I could say it occurred to me in a state of serenity, feeling one with nature whilst meditating on a sun-basked mountain top, it didn’t… It actually occurred whilst watching a football match on TV.
It was the 2002 Football World Cup quarter finals between co-hosting nation South Korea and Spain. South Korea won the match on penalties. And in the midst of a huge sporting “upset”, as the cameras showed a nation jubilantly rejoicing, my Father said, “well that was fixed”, (implying the game was rigged in South Korea’s favour). I remember feeling deflated, wondering why my Father couldn’t just think positively about the result and appreciate the victorious efforts of an inferior team.
And this time the epiphany was on cue: because it’s easier to think negatively than positively!
Within neuroscience it has been demonstrated that the brain tilts towards the negative. To showcase this, when two groups of participants in a controlled experiment were given the same information presented in two different ways, their perception of the information was either positive or negative.
Example, when participants in group 1 were told there is a 70% success rate of a new drug to combat a disease, they felt positive about the medication. When participants in group 2 were told there is a 30% failure rate of the same drug, they felt negative. Social psychology refers to this as “information framing”. To take this a step further, the participants in group 1, after being told about the 70% success rate of the drug, were also told that there was a 30% failure rate. The findings showed that their previous positive perception about the drug was now met with a negative perception.
This tells us that negative sticks – positive slips.
Much like the interpretation of whether a glass of water is half empty or half full, how we perceive a situation dictates our thoughts towards it. Chris Martin (think Coldplay) was on to something when he sang the lyric of hit #1 The Scientist, “nobody said it was easy”.
We have to work harder to think positively than negatively.
Luckily, the only organ we can control is also the same organ that dictates behaviour, the brain! Neuroplasticity is the ability for the brain to change its activity in response to stimuli by reorganizing its structure. In simpler terms, we can change our perception by changing our behaviour. The primary change of brain function is behaviour. Through the adoption of good behaviours, we can tilt the brain towards positivity.
The power of thought can also grow the brain… yes, your frontal lobes read that right 😉.
Research within thoughts correlated to brain functions has found that when positive thoughts occur, there is growth within the prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain plays a key role within cognitive control functions. Creativity, reasoning, problem solving, perseverance and comprehension is all governed by the prefrontal cortex. A study involving 350,000 participants spanning 22 years found that those in the top 10% of performers (high performing individuals), thought about what they wanted and how they would get it majority of the day, whilst the remaining 90% of low performers would think about problems they were facing and who was to blame.
Connecting present thoughts to future goals enhances a growth mindset.
How to achieve goals sparks of positive thoughts which results in a happier state of mindfulness.