Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. – Thomas Merton
At the core of every successful person is their ability to balance negativity and positivity. They know that the world is not always a good place, and they can’t always avoid bad experiences, but they are able to find the positives in every situation.
Balancing between the two extremes of negativity and positivity is a key factor for success. If you are too negative, you can lose motivation and lose sight of your goals. If you are too positive, you can overestimate yourself, which is not good in the long run.
Balancing the positives and negatives in life will help you optimize your life. If the laws of Physics are accurate, then positive and negative forces in nature have to balance each other out.
Internal conflict and its toll on your life
Internal conflict is the struggle within a person over a problem. If the conflict is intense, it can disrupt your mental health. You will find yourself struggling to stay in positive vibes. In most cases, people end up thinking about the negatives instead of focusing on the positives in life.
○ Why is it easier to think negatively?
Human beings have a biological negativity bias, which means that we tend to focus on the negatives in life. This results from our survival instinct, which propels our brain to keep us safe by detecting threats and responding to them. This causes us to be more sensitive to negative situations.
In addition, negative stimuli cause more neural activity in the brain as compared to positive stimuli. This causes negative experience to be stored faster in the brain, while positive activities are first held in short-term memory for some time before being transferred to long-term memory.
○ How negativity causes low self-esteem
Negative events have major impact on how your brain functions. When you have a negative outlook, you are not able to think logically, and your cerebellum slows down. Consequently, you can’t come up with creative solutions to the problems that you have.
In addition, the left temporal lobe in your brain will be affected. This will interfere with a person’s ability to control your impulses, and your memory will deteriorate.
When negative self-talk becomes a habit, it causes rewiring of your brain. The neurons and synapses that are associated with negative thoughts will become strengthened; hence, negative attitude become deeply ingrained in your brain structure. This makes it difficult to overcome negative outcomes and thought patterns.
○ Positive thinking and self-talk for success
“One small positive thought can change your whole day.” – Zig Ziglar
A self-talk is a powerful tool you can use to overcome negative thinking patterns. This will require that you dig deep and change your foundational beliefs and negative feelings. It is important to have the right frame of mind to achieve success, which comes through a positive attitude.
You can reverse pessimistic thought processes using the power of positive affirmations. Correct negative state of patterns by taking control of your thoughts and inner self-talk and changing them to an optimistic mindset.
The affirmations can be in the form of short positive words that target your beliefs. After some time, both your conscious and subconscious mind will take hold of these optimistic statements, and unhelpful thoughts will start reducing.
The Yin and Yang of Life
When we think of balancing negativity and positivity, we think of Yin and Yang. This is because these two forces are opposites: one is soft, and one is hard. These forces balance each other out and coexist for the greater good.
○ Optimism and negativism are two opposing forces.
Optimism and negativism are two opposing forces that we must balance to achieve success. However, people often fail to balance both these forces out of the fear of too much negativity.
Optimism does not mean burying your head in the sand and not paying attention to life’s less pleasant situations. It simply means approaching life’s unpleasant situations with a more positive outlook.
○ Glass half empty or half full?
Your answer to the question of whether the glass is half empty or half full shows whether you are an optimist or pessimist. However, the reality is that both of these concepts have a good and bad side. The key lies in finding balance and taking action.
Most happenings are usually not 100% bad. But due to negativity bias, we might be tempted to think so. That is why it is always important to do perception check and look for the silver lining in the cloud.
This can be hard to do in some cases, but it is worth remembering that this too shall pass, and the situation is not permanent.
○ Turning on your positive side
“When you think positive, good things happen.” – Matt Kemp
Optimism is a long-term approach to balancing out negativism by focusing more on the positive results of life. It involves paying more attention and giving more time and energy to the positive things of your life.
It is important to take time out, pause, and turn on your positivity switch, to be aware of the positive experiences around you. These are often things that are hidden by the negative information in your life.
To turn on your switch, reflect on the things that you treasure in your life and how helpful they are to you and other people around you. Think about the right things in your circumstances, all the positive people you have come across and how blessed you are.
The world is filled with negativity, so in order to maintain the overall balance, we should mainly concern ourselves with attracting positive energy in our lives.
○ There can’t be only positivity.
No one can always have positive emotions all the time. Forcing yourself always to think in positive light can end up being draining and cause toxic positivity. It stops you from thinking more deeply about things in life, as you ignore your other feelings.
Too much positivity is not always a good thing. A bit of negativity can prompt inner self-examination and provoke you to change for the better.
While it is good to build up positivity to help you cope with the challenges that life throws at you, recognizing and accepting negativity helps to keep things real. Too much optimism can emphasize your feelings of failure when things do not work out as expected.
Trying to be positive all the time can cause you to get stressed, as it will cause you to bottle up things during hard times. This will affect your well-being negatively.
Overview: Accepting the good and the bad
Ultimately, life is all about balance. There are advantages and disadvantages to both positive and negative thinking. The good news is that you can train your brain to view and accept situations from different angles.
It is important to have a healthy outlook based on both of these concepts.
We experience a wide range of emotions. Accepting all these emotions makes it possible for us to live a full life. There is no need to be guilt-ridden when you experience negative emotions. Negative emotions are a part of life. They also help us to appreciate the positive side of life.
