Positivity & Confidence

A ‘thrum’ that simply attracts success

Is positivity all it’s cracked up to be? Can simply having a positive outlook actually improve accident or illness recovery times?

In a nutshell, YES. And that’s backed by recent research. But if positivity is so powerful, why do we often react more strongly to negative ideas or new information? Turns out, our brains are wired for survival. Having a negative tendency is one of our species’ key survival traits – along with most other animal species on the planet.  At a subconscious level, us humans though still view our world as if we were being chased around by cave bears who want to eat us. Our negativity bias helps keep us safe by making us wary of new things.

Ironically, we flip this instinct in social situations by deferring to truth or positivity, such as when meeting someone for the first time. Here, we take it for granted and give them the benefit of the doubt that they are decent, honest and morally sound. And we must. If we didn’t, we’d not get much done as a society. That’s how it works for us to connect and build communities.

The key for us humans is to balance our instinctive responses for our immediate situational context and adjust our behaviour to achieve balanced and appropriate outcomes.  Basically, if we can adjust our instinctive reactions, we can create more confidence, build better relationships and attract success.