Balancing Negative Thoughts with Positive Ones

Every workplace, team, or family has a Negative Nancy or a Positive Pete.

You know, the person who expresses doubt about every idea, or the eternal opportunist that can turn a tiny ray of hope into a rainbow of possibility. So what makes people look at a glass of water and say: “it’s half full,” “it’s half empty,” or “it’s half poison”?

The answer can be traced in part back to our caveman days. Our biology shows that early humans relied on negative thinking to survive. The world was a dangerous place, so we had to be very cautious about threats like predators, or poisonous foods and plants. This outlook is closely tied to our ‘fight or flight’ response and how we react to fear. Many recent studies support this concept that fear is instinctual, and comes from our ‘animal’ brains. 

Of course, there are many people out there who don’t take this approach. They are positive about everything and don’t seem to give in to the negative voice in their heads.  So where did they learn to think like this? Some of it is genetic, but also, they have consciously chosen to take on an optimistic approach to life and the challenges it throws at them. 

In the modern world, there is a need for both the optimist and the pessimist. They balance each other out. The yin to the yang. For example, in the workplace, a team should always have one person who is saying “wait a minute now…”, looking for roadblocks that the go-getters don’t realize are there. After all, being overly optimistic and thinking “it can’t happen to me” can lead to risk taking and poor decisions.

If you do tend to answer that the glass if ‘half empty’, it doesn’t mean you are destined to always be a Debbie Downer. Being mindful, that is consciously choosing to explore your view towards the world, is the first step towards adapting a more positive outlook, or at least a more pragmatic one. And if you are here, reading this blog, then you are already making the effort!

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