{"id":94,"date":"2023-05-10T12:22:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T12:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/?p=94"},"modified":"2023-07-03T17:17:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T17:17:30","slug":"taming-your-brain-to-find-your-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/2023\/05\/10\/taming-your-brain-to-find-your-bliss\/","title":{"rendered":"Taming Your Brain to Find Your Bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a bright sunny mid–<\/em>April morning, and I awoke to the sound of the acorns tripping along the tiles of my roof.\u00a0 I envisioned that the little squirrels were taking a short–<\/em>cut to a safe storage place for their feast. As my eyes slowly took in the soft, warm glow of my bedroom, I was feeling excited about the new spring day and ready to hit the ground running.\u00a0 But before my toes touched the ground, my mind took off in another direction and negative thoughts started pouring in, washing away my excitement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking a deep breath, I tried to focus again on the beautiful spring morning with positivity and gratitude. But again, my mind was flooded by thoughts of good people stricken down by Covid. Healthcare professionals struggling to save them, and families without their income, struggling to make ends meet. We\u2019ve all been cast in a dark, surreal drama. No one auditioned for a role, yet we all play a part in this movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

So here I am on this bright sunny morning with lots of time to watch the news and think negative thoughts or figure out how I can change my live experience in this new reality that I cannot change.\u00a0\u00a0 I started with some research and learned about an effect on the mind called the \u201cnegativity bias\u201d which refers to our proclivity to \u201cattend to, learn from, and use negative information far more than positive information\u201d (<\/em>Vaish et al., 2008)<\/em>.\u00a0 This bias also known as the \u2018negativity effect\u2019, has us humans paying more attention and importance to negative experiences, which have a greater effect on our psychological state than positive or neutral ones.\u00a0 In other words, it is easier to be in a negative state of mind than a positive one.\u00a0 And there is no time better than the present.\u00a0 Perhaps. <\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need studies to tell us that there is a direct correlation between negative thought and feelings of fear, depression, or anxiety.\u00a0 But getting a little more technical, I learned that negativity dials up the sympathetic nervous system, and our production of cortisol, increasing our heart rate and blood pressure and ultimately contributing to not only mental health issues but also chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our brain’s inclination toward negative thoughts is normal, and as humans even when\u00a0negative\u00a0experiences are inconsequential, we tend to focus on unpleasant memories and use stronger words to describe them.\u00a0 Even in the best of times, we often dwell on concerns about the future. Almost as if our mind, left to its own devices, won\u2019t allow us to be content and happy without introducing a thought to counter the bliss. It makes sense that this bias is full throttle during these difficult times, affecting how we think feel and act.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Digging a little deeper, I learned that there is a way to manage the sympathetic nervous system to get out of the darkness into the light, and it\u2019s pretty simple.\u00a0 To counter these feelings, we need to dial up our parasympathetic nervous system, often called the rest and digest system because it slows the heart rate and the GI or digestive system.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psychologists tell us that there are three things we can do to dial up our parasympathetic system, slow down how we process, and shift ourselves out of the negative space into a more positive place of well–<\/em>being.\u00a0 They are simply the 3Ms – Movement, Meditation, Mastery<\/span><\/p>\n

Movement is about staying active.\u00a0 <\/u>Whether you choose to walk around your home, practice yoga or workout with an online video, exercise is crucial because movement and brain health are interconnected.\u00a0 Specifically, the brain releases endorphins, which are the feel–<\/em>good hormones in our bodies.\u00a0 Exercise can reduce anxiety and depression, elevate mood, boost self–<\/em>esteem, and minimize stress while improving cognitive function.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mindfulness is about focused awareness:<\/u> Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing your attention on the present moment, while acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Studies suggest that\u00a0mindfulness affects<\/strong>\u00a0many aspects of our psychological well–<\/em>being.\u00a0 Meditation is one technique used to enhance the therapeutic effect of mindfulness.\u00a0 Meditation is known to work via its effects on the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing the heart rate and respiration.\u00a0 For some it also has a spiritual purpose to promote a calm state of contentment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mastery is about feeling accomplished<\/u>:\u00a0 One definition of mastery is the comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or accomplishment. Basically, it is being productive.\u00a0 There is clinical evidence to show that productivity and depression are linked, and when we are in a negative headspace, we tend to be less productive.\u00a0 To assuage the negative effect on our well–<\/em>being, psychologists suggest learning something new, singing or playing a new song or tackling a project on our to–<\/em>do list, and seeing it through.\u00a0 In this way we shift our awareness to being productive and train our brain to focus on our accomplishment.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps when the pandemic is behind us, and it will be, we can return to our good old \u201cnormal\u201d lives with a new awareness, new hobbies that we enjoy, and new tools to help us train our brains to be less negative and more positive and find our bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

#<\/em>positivepsychology\u00a0 #<\/em>mindfulness\u00a0 #<\/em>parasympathetic\u00a0 #<\/em>negativity bias<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a bright sunny mid–April morning, and I awoke to the sound of the acorns tripping along the tiles of my roof.\u00a0 I envisioned that the little squirrels were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devu05.testdevlink.net\/well\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}