Many of the problems we face nowadays are due to hangovers of our evolution.
And I don’t mean we were pissed up monkeys 😉
Our brain evolved in certain ways.
Which were essential for our survival.
But now that survival isn’t so much of an issue …….
They can make the lives we live nowadays tricky.
We stand a fairly good chance of making it through the day nowadays.
Not many sabre toothed tigers chasing us.
Not in Macc at least.
And the majority of us live to reproductive age.
Which is kind of all we’re supposed to do.
But, from an evolutionary perspective, we haven’t changed much since the world was a very different place.
Much of our old ‘monkey brain’ still plays a big part in our thoughts.
One thing we developed is what experts call a ‘negativity bias’.
We naturally find it sooooo much easier to focus on the negative than the positive.
The guy who cut you up in traffic?
The snide remark?
The comment someone made on Facebook?
They can play on the mind for days, weeks or longer.
The lovely time your spent with friends / family?
The great night out?
The nice comment someone made?
Slip from the mind much quicker, don’t they?
And much harder to bring back to the forefront.
Velcro for the bad, Teflon for the good.
################
We can’t, of course, change our brains structurally.
That pre-frontal cortex is there to stay.
Short of a lobotomy 😉
But, to a good degree, we can retrain the brain.
The more effort you put into consiustly thinking of the good …..
And diverting attention away from the bad …….
The more natural it becomes.
Same as anything, it’s hard work to start, but get’s easier.
I’m no where near mastering it.
But I’m better at it than I used to be.
And it definitely won’t happen without trying.
Give it a go …..
And let us know how you get on 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Tel A Viv’ Hall and Matt ‘Telly Savalis’ Nicholson
P.S. Still taking applications for the find out more meeting later this month – myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting