A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ

CHOOSE POSITIVE

This week let’s choose to experience positivity. It will need to be a choice. 

In any given week, there are many positive things that happen to each of us.  In most cases we notice them, might even acknowledge them, but we don’t often dwell on them, share them, have conversations about them, or stop and really feel them. They are forgotten almost as quickly as they arrive.

Oddly, the opposite is true of the negative things that happen to us in any given week.  For many, the negative things cause anxiousness, stress, and mood swings. They are what we remember at the end of the day, the following morning, at the end of the week. 

As it turns out, research shows that humans are programmed to experience negative emotions more intensely than positive emotions. This is often referred to as negativity bias - a tendency for our brains to see, register, and feel negative events more strongly and sharply than positive and happy moments. This may be because we are more intent on avoiding negative situations and events in our life. We look to avoid anything that prevents a threat. So when something negative shows up in our worlds, we become intent on dealing with any threat it may bring with it. The avoidance of threat brings with it an intense focus.

Because positive emotions pose no threat to us, we don’t often focus on it, dwell on it, or unpackage it emotionally.  Before we know it, negative emotions grab center stage in our days, our weeks, and our lives. We may consider ourselves generally positive. But think back to your last week of phone calls, your last week of texts, your last week of social posts, your last week of conversations. Did they center around the positive things that occurred? Or did they center around the negative things that occurred? Did they add anxiousness, stress, or negativity to the world around you? Or did they contribute in a positive way to your community? 

This week, choose to experience and share the positivity. Send a positive text. Make a positive phone call. Post a piece of positivity. This isn’t a statement of minimizing reality, or pretending life is perfect. There will always be both positive and negative to deal with. How we interpret, internalize, and interact with the events and our emotions will make all the difference.

This week, celebrate the positive regardless of how small that positive may be. You and everyone around you needs that this week.

Chris