Hello, my name is Thomas Mconkey and you are listening to Mindfulness Plus.

The mindfulness topic I want to pick up today is what neuroscientists refer to as the negativity bias.

There's a neuropsychologist by the name of Rick Hansen,

whose work I really enjoy because he focuses

specifically on how mindfulness practice can help shape our brains

in a way that help counteract this negativity bias. So before we get into

Rick Hansen's work, I want to talk a little bit about what this bias is. Well, you can

understand this negativity bias in terms of evolutionary biology. Imagine that thousands of years ago, millions of years ago,

you're out on the plains of Africa. And it's a dangerous place, right? The weather is hazardous.

There are predators lurking about, slinking through the grass, waiting to

pounce you. Your system needed to be on high alert to warn you of danger, right? On the other hand,

when positive experiences came by, let's say somebody from your band, your tribe, flashes a smile at you.

And oh, you smile back, that's nice.

And that's it.

And these moments go by unnoticed, more or less unnoticed.

Why is that?

Well, if somebody smiles at us and we smile back, it's nice for a moment.

But if something life-threatening presents itself to us, and if our nervous systems aren't

organized in such a way that all of us is on high alert and we're programmed to avoid that danger at all costs,

then we can easily lose our lives in that moment.

So if somebody smiles at you, well, if you missed it,

if your brain didn't totally register the impact of it,

...