Did you know that our brain prioritizes negative emotions over those that are positive? This is a basic survival technique. If you want to hack your brain, you’ll need to understand this.
Check this.
Happiness. Think of yourself as a caveman. You are deeply in love with your cave-wife, and she makes you so obnoxiously happy. You just walk around all day staring at the clouds and thinking of how wonderful and dreamy she is. One day, a lion comes behind you. In the middle of drawing a heart in the sand, he pummels you to feast on yours. You die. Game over.
Fear. You are a caveman and you and your cave-wife live together in a nice little nook in the side of the mountain. She’s great and everything, but you can’t be distracted by this. Every sound outside the rock façade hits your ears as a warning sign. You carry a stick with you everywhere you go because you are anxious. You know this will protect you. As you are out walking about, a lion comes behind you. You hear the cracking of the branches on the ground and quickly swing around to clock him in the head. You are safe. Game on.
If you think that these little stories were meant to convince you to lean on fear and ignore happiness, you are missing my point.
News flash.
We aren’t living in caves. We are clothed, comfortable, and warm. With minimal effort, we survive daily. We don’t need to carry a stick. However, our naturally embedded instincts still have us focusing on negative emotions over the positive, as a tried-and-true survival trick.
Whether we are looking at our cave-selves or the versions of the humans we are today, our end goal is the same: happiness. Due to our emotional brain taking the wheel over our analytical brain, we often act and make decisions based on how we feel in the moment, rather than based on what would suit us best on the level of mind, body, and soul. Finding the balance is key.
It is a known fact that negative energy disrupts everything in your body. The chemicals released in times of anger, anxiety, depression, fear, and stress all interfere with the body’s natural healing process. Upon harboring these emotions, we see them manifest, into a variety of physical ailments. This has been proven time and again.
At the end of the day, we are humans. There are going to be people around us who will do things that piss us off. Things that enrage us. Things that seem evil and monstrous. Things we can’t even rationalize another human being capable of.
Don’t fall into the mud that they’ve made.
These negative emotions must go. Sometimes we just need to scream it out, head in the pillow style. Our innate reaction to recognize fear, anger, and sadness as quickly as possible is meant to bring us relief. This release drives us back home to contentment. But what if we could skip harping on these negatives and force ourselves over the hump, straight to the prize? Rather than make it an all-consuming venture? It’s possible.
The hack is simple. Just love. Wish for them what you want for yourself.
This might sound easy, but it takes a lot of brain power, mental courage even.
You have to love them harder than you hate them.
And believe me, in situations like these, you might hate them hard.
Live love. Use them like a trampoline. Bounce off of them right back up to the clouds where you belong. Lead by example. If you follow them down, you are all lost.
Recognize that every move they make to hurt you, is based on their own fears. They are living by instinct. They haven’t yet learned that they have the capacity to find true happiness. Accept their decisions. This is their free will. While you have no control over what led them to their choices, you have full control over yours. Raise up with love.
This is where you’ll find happiness. If they’re lucky enough, they’ll meet you there.
