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Positive Thinking: Notes from Alison Ledgerwood’s TED Talk “Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck)”

Posted on July 21, 2020August 4, 2020 by Mag Nolia

Key takeaways: We have to consciously and proactively work to view the positive in our lives and situations. Our default can be “negative” – it takes effort to focus on the positive, but we must go there and put in the effort.

  • Why does failure stick in our mind more than success?
  • From research, we can see that our view of the world has a fundamental tendency to focus on the negative – we have to work harder to focus on the positive.
  • Research has shown me that you have to work to view the upside – even writing just a few minutes a day about things you’re grateful for can boost your happiness and even your health.
  • And often we forget to talk about the good stuff – my husband hears me complain, grumpy about work, then asks me: but okay, what was good?
  • As a community, we can focus more on the upside – our minds may be built to look for negative information, and hold onto it; but what if we retrain our minds to see the glass might be a little more full than we originally thought?

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