Rick Hanson uses the acronym HEAL to explain planting positivity in our lives.
1) HAVE: a positive experience
* Notice what is around you that is obviously positive. Sitting across from a friend sipping a hot cup of tea. * If not, create a positive experience. Notice what is in the foreground of your mind. You can still hear your laughter as you chatted together last week. * Focus on what is in the background of your mind. She has been a good friend to you over the years and you feel so loved and grateful.
AVOIDANCE | APPROACH | ATTACHMENT. In the previous newsletter you were introduced to the 3 operating systems in your brain. You know you have the choice to decide which one you wish to use at any given time.
1) Avoidance: Your boss calls a sudden meeting with you within the hour. Your heart starts to pound about the implications of being summoned abruptly. It is about the major project you had just submitted.
“Eat lunch today;don’t be lunch today”: it has been the cardinal rule of the wild. Survival comes first. Psychologist Rick Hanson in his book ‘Hardwiring Happiness’ goes on to outline how we grew into beings with a Negativity Bias.
“The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones”. It has been laced into our DNA since the Stone Age to react to negative experiences so as to avoid danger and pain. Safety was our primary need.
Psychologist Rick Hanson in his book ‘Hardwiring Happiness’ lays out the wonder of positive neuroplasticity. “The brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon”. The exciting news is we can change our brains.
Science tells us that how we feel and act rests on 3 factors:
Barbara Fredrickson gives us core, promising truths about Positivity:
1 It feels good.
An uplifting moment of goodness, however fleeting and transient, is always welcome. The ‘feel good chemical’ dopamine is being released in the brain and we are flooded with joy.
Barbara Fredrickson in her book ‘Positivity’ says it is not enough to simply look like you are happy, or to just utter words of joy, but to genuinely feel positivity at a deeper level. “Heartfelt Positivity” is her mantra.
Cultivate the 5 seeds of Big Potential says Shawn Achor.
Seed #5: Sustain the Gains: Creating collective momentum
Newton’s Law “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”
Cultivate the 5 seeds of Big Potential says Shawn Achor.
Seed #4: Defend against Negative Influences: Protect your System
STRATEGIES
1) Build a tidal moat: In the Middle Ages, a castle had a moat around it to discourage the approach of an enemy. A tidal moat was one that allowed high tide to fill it up at night when everyone was asleep and most vulnerable to an attack.
Today, our enemy is the non-stop barrage of noise around us. It prevents us from staying focused and moving towards our greater potential. We want to be aware of our vulnerable times: half hour before getting into bed and after getting out of bed till breakfast. Turn off all media, social feeds, news, emails, alerts, and notifications. They are the enemy that attack our safe castle. Music, reading or conversation is preferred to electronics. The moat of self-protection is ‘powering down’.
2) Build a mental stronghold: We prepare for a storm forecast by stocking up on water, non-perishables, gas, candles etc. Similarly, we need to stock up our ‘mental reserves’ for unexpected events that can catch us off guard. Build a positive mental grip.
Cultivate the 5 seeds of Big Potential says Shawn Achor.
Seed #4: Defend against Negative Influences: Protect your System
Having positive emotions at all times is neither realistic nor practical. We need negative emotions like sadness, fear and anger to alert us that our ecosystem has been trespassed, or our rights have been violated. (*See reference below). They are a signal that change is needed; one that we have to initiate ourselves and not wait for the world to begin to do so.
Cultivate the 5 seeds of Big Potential says Shawn Achor.
Seed #3: Enhance your Resources: Create a prism of Praise and Recognition
Praise is a reward that boosts self-esteem, reinforces positive behavior and inspires progress. When you receive praise, instead of absorbing it (hoarding), or brushing it off (deflecting), which many of us tend to do, Achor suggests we refract it (bend it like light through a prism) and watch the single, incoming ray of light as it passes through a prism spread outwards as many rays in diverse directions. In other words, pay it forward and praise others in your sphere who are deserving.
