Should You Focus on the Positive or Negative?

Practicing Human

Cory Muscara

Personal Development, Presence, Mental Health, Wellness, Personal Growth, Meditation, Self-improvement, Mindfulness, Self Improvement, Health & Fitness, Education, Positive Psychology, Happiness, Buddhism

5.0 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2022

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we explore the nuanced territory or positive vs negative thinking. Should you anticipate a positive outcome or a negative outcome? Listen to find out! As always, if you'd like to get free access to my resource library, including guided meditations, book recommendations, app recommendations, and more, text your email address to: +1 (631) 337-8298 And if you'd like to get daily inspirational text messages to your phone from me, just text the word "podcast" to +1 (631) 305-2874

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to practicing human, the podcast where every day we're getting a little better at life.
0:08.7	I'm your host, Corey Miscara, and in today's episode, we're going to talk about whether you should focus on the positive or the negative.
0:19.0	More to come on that in a moment. First, let's settle in together with the sound of the negative. More to come on that in a moment.
0:51.8	First, let's settle in together with the sound of the bells. Okay. So should you focus on the positive? Should you focus on the negative?
0:55.8	Should you anticipate a positive outcome? Or should you focus on the negative? Should you anticipate a positive outcome?
0:59.3	Or should you anticipate a negative outcome?
1:09.3	Well, let's start by first saying that anticipating a negative outcome is as irrational,
1:16.9	as anticipating a positive outcome. Sometimes we think that thinking about the positive is irrational and we need to focus on the negative. Sometimes we think that thinking about the
1:23.6	negative is irrational and we need to focus on the positive. Considering that these are each thoughts about a future that we haven't lived yet,
1:33.5	it is fair to say that they're equally irrational, at least averaged over time.
1:39.8	Sometimes we might have more data to inform and confirm that it's more likely to be a negative
1:47.3	outcome versus a positive outcome and vice versa.
1:50.1	But over time, as it relates to our habitual relationship to imagined future realities, focusing
1:58.9	more on the positive or the negative is equally irrational.
2:02.8	So the question becomes, which one should you do?
2:06.5	Should you focus on the potential positive outcome, or should you focus on the potential
2:11.2	negative outcome?
2:12.9	Well, considering these are both irrational perspectives, one could argue that you might as well focus on the one that makes you feel good, which would typically be the positive outcome.
2:25.9	However, I see that as a one-dimensional perspective about what creates an appropriate response to any given moment and what makes life meaningful
2:37.9	and our skillful action in the world.
2:42.3	It's true.
2:43.4	Focusing on the positive is most likely going to make you feel better.
	...

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