We can’t expect our life to be filled with sunshines and rainbows.
Sometimes, no matter how much positive message we receive, we only listen to that one bad comment. When I encountered negativity, I distracted myself by staying busy, hoping that by keeping my mind occupied, could help me from overthinking.
But, why don’t we listen to those 10 great positive messages? Why don’t we accept and love ourselves for those positive messages?
It can be through negativity bias. Negativity bias refers to focusing on the negative rather than the positive. It is our natural tendency to overthink those negative thoughts and our brain responds better to the negative stimuli.
But, here is what I learned: no matter how overwhelmed, depressed, overburdened and rejected you feel in your life, focus on what you’re grateful for.
Be grateful for the opportunities you have, the community that supports you, and even the small joys in life.
I have thought of gratitude as a painkiller, a way of avoiding bad events that happened in your life until I realized, it changes the way my brain processes information, helping me to see the world in a positive way.
One of the famous gratitude studies, the famous experiment by two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons and Dr. Michael E. McCullough conducted an experiment showing the importance of gratitude. In the experiment, one group was asked to write down things that they were thankful for, and the other group wrote about what depressed them. After 10 weeks, the results showed that the first group developed a more positive mindset and a healthier lifestyle, whereas the second group showed a more negative mindset.
Just as how this study represented, if we get trapped inside a negative thought, it would reach further down to the rabbit hole.
So start fighting depression with gratitude!
Citations
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377–389.
Larsen, R. (2009). The contributions of positive and negative affect on emotional well-being. Psihologijske Teme, 18(2), 247–266.
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