Remember the Positives

I'm guilty of this too, but you ever notice how people only seem to remember the negative things in life? No one walks into work and says, "Man, I hit every single green light on my way in!" It's always, "Every single light was red on the way in. Took forever." I read somewhere once (I'm pretty sure) that negative events are remembered better because they trigger a stronger reaction in the brain. I don't know if that's 100% true; I'm not a scientist and I don't feel like looking it up, but it makes sense.

On top of that, if you miss the bus, you're going to stand at the bus stop for the next 10-15 minutes dwelling on the fact that you missed the bus and are now running late. Same thing with the stop light example: when you sit at the red light, that's all time spent thinking about how the light is not green. When you catch a bus on time, you walk right on without a second thought.

I think it'll be amazing how much better your days will be when you stop and make a conscious effort to remember the good things. Every time you hit a green light, be sure to remind yourself: I'm really lucky that I just caught that light green. That's 3 in a row! When you do hit a red light, you can tell yourself, "one red and three green lights is pretty good odds." It may seem silly, especially if you take that positive thinking to the I'm-so-glad-there-was-toilet-paper-left-in-the-stall level, but if you actually remember all the good things that happen to you, your whole outlook on life will change.

Your disposition be bright and sunny, and people around you will notice. The worst that happens is that you look silly for getting excited about catching your bus. The more likely result is that your positive outlook will be contagious and the people around you will start to have a more positive outlook on their lives, as well. This, in turn, benefits you: happy people are much more pleasant to deal with. You'll be happy to deal with pleasant people for once, which will make you even happier. It's the cycle of positive happiness. Copyright pending on that term.

Just try it. I dare you.