The other day in fat camp we were talking about the human tendency to focus on the negative, and some possible biological reasons for it.
For instance, if you’ve almost been eaten by a grizzly, you really need to make sure you’ve learned a lesson or you may not survive the next time. So we’re wired by evolution to think about it. A lot. People who dwelled on these kinds of events tended to survive at a higher rate than people who stopped to smell the flowers or think about the beautiful blue sky. The happy bliss people got eaten. The ones worried about what might be pouncing on them didn’t.
We evolved so it was beneficial to us to push away the positive thoughts to focus on the negative ones.
One of my fellow campers mentioned that sometimes in the middle of a really joyful time, he felt himself pulling back emotionally so the moment would end on a happy note, before it could be ruined. He said it was like getting infected with joy. I loved the phrase, but didn’t like the way he’d used it.
To me, letting yourself be infected with joy means stopping and taking note of all the wonderful things around us. The large ones, but mostly all of the small ones. How wonderful your coffee smells, especially if it was roasted by someone who loves you (thanks, Rocky) or how good a pint of IPA can taste at the end of the day. The feel of sunlight on your face.
According to this dude Richard Hanson, who did a TED talk on it (linked down below), positive experiences don’t have the same emotional impact because the memories use different neural pathways involving short term memory. You can rewire your brain though, if you get into the habit of dwelling on small stuff in life that’s positive and forcing it into the same neural pathways the bad stuff takes. He called it hardwiring happiness.
I like being infected by joy better, but I am not a neural psychology expert, so what do I know? Anyway, it turns out there is a scientific basis for the benefits of noticing how good coffee smells. It isn’t just a bunch of hooey!
All you have to do, he says, is notice small good things and dwell on them. Mmm coffee. Mmm beer. Dwell on these small good things for least 10 seconds to fire up the neurons that wire them into long term memory. Do it often. It feels good, and it makes you a happier person over time because it helps reverse our evolutionary bias towards negativity by building happier neural pathways. That was summarized, because it was a little more sciencey than I like to get.
People who practice this sort of daily mindful activity tend to have more active brains and an increased ability to focus.
Another great side effect is that happier people attract people to them. That results in an increased feeling of community and teamwork. You know what that leads to? A happier, easier, more pleasant life.
Which makes you happier.
Which draws people to you.
Which makes your life happier still.
It’s the opposite of a vicious circle–it’s being infected by joy.
Noticing good things feeds love. It makes us more compassionate and understanding. It makes our lives better.
And it’s science!
I love science.
And the smell of popcorn.
Ted talk by Richard Hanson.
Hardwiring Happiness