Negativity and the brain

     Each day, I get an opportunity to make a difference, but some days I'm not feeling it. I decide to procrastinate or second-guess myself. Sometimes I think of abandoning difficult projects, but then I remember that I'm responsible for my day--not my week, just one day. This day. So I pick up my banner and keep walking, head held high. Today.

     Our brain is programmed toward  negativity in order to keep us safe. Negative thinking comes naturally, but it's up to us to "deselect" it. Living happens one day at a time, and reprogramming our brain happens one thought at a time.  Living a purposeful life one day at a time means combating negative thoughts--every time. It means catching yourself in the act of agreeing with negative thoughts.  Excessive negative thoughts come and stay, or they come and we chase them away. It's always our choice, always has been.

     We can choose to entertain negativity or we can confront negative thoughts. For example, like so many people, I grew up with many negative experiences. One experience left me afraid of pit bulls. Now, if I see a pit bull, my brain tells me, "You're terrified," and I start to agree but on one particular day, I see someone approaching the man and his pit bull dog, the tail wagging and everyone smiling. I feel duped by the brain again. I didn't have to put the negative spin on this chance encounter, but I did. Consequently, I started to cross to the other side of the street. But after the dog wagged its tail, I didn't.

     Changing negative thoughts is a day by day affair, but it happens. I changed my thoughts and wasn't afraid when I passed the owner with his pit bull on a leash. I wasn't prepared to smile just yet, but I told my brain to stop it! It's amazing how many negative thinking choices the brain makes based on what we've told it to do over the years.  But like a contented pit bull, the brain is obedient. In times of stress, it can even change its structure in an attempt to keep us emotionally grounded. It does what we tell it to do and it's able to relearn. Amazing apparatus, the brain.

     Living without fear and with a sense of purpose begins with saying, No! to negative thinking, making a plan, and setting goals for what we want to achieve. The brain will do whatever it can to accommodate our hopes and dreams. Stuff happens whether we like it or not, but purposeful living happens according to a plan, and negative thinking stops because we tell it to, one day at a time.