One of Wuf Shanti’s mantras is Think Well to Be Well, and we talk a lot about training our brain to be positive and looking on the bright side. That doesn’t mean that we have to be happy 100% of the time. Of course, it’s healthy to feel our emotions, as long as we can also self-regulate, pause, and respond instead of react. As my grandpa once said, “If you can’t get to a place of positivity, then get to neutral.” But that, too, takes practice.
Our brains are wired to focus on the negative (ie: the negativity bias), which can be overwhelming and lead to pessimism. I found this post by JG Larochette, and it really resonated with me. We’ve all been taught that we have choices to make, we can see the glass half full or we can see it as half empty. But are those really the only choices? Isn’t the cup refillable? That’s a really powerful thought to consider because it means that we can always re-wire our brains. We just have to practice re-filling our cup!
To get to a place of optimism, or at least to get to neutral, we have to exercise our brains. It’s like going to the gym for our physical health or brushing our teeth for our oral health. If we practice mindfulness even 5 minutes a day, and learn to be present, it can lead to gratitude, self-love, and self-compassion. Think of it as the ultimate in self-care. It has the potential to get us to neutral or even to a positivity bias, and allows us to appreciate life in a truly authentic way.