As humans we naturally have a tendency to notice negative stimuli more. Mindfulness meditation has shown to help us combat this negativity bias.

Negativity bias is what we call our human tendency to put more focus on negative stimuli in our environment or to weigh negative stimuli more heavily than positive stimuli. This tendency towards noticing negative stimuli more is well documented in psychological research.

It is also assumed that the negativity bias has developed due to our evolutionary need to focus on survival first. In a world full of threat and danger it makes sense to pick up very quickly on any sign that our life or the life of our offspring might be in danger. Unfortunately, at least in the modern western world we do not live in such an environment anymore. Yet, our brain still operates in the same way it did thousands of years ago.  This means that very often, we spend a lot more time worrying about potential problems, thinking back on past failures and noticing an itch rather than focusing on the positive and pleasurable things in our life.

On top of this, our negativity bias is also coupled with our need to avoid pain and seek pleasure’.  So whilst we are conditioned to notice negative feelings a lot more and a lot quicker than positive aspects of our life we are also conditioned to get rid of any negativity in our life as soon as possible.

If you look at this cycle closely you can see that this can easily keep us stuck in a rat race where all we do is focus on bad stuff happening to us and then trying to figure out how to get rid of the bad stuff. It then is also quite easy to dismiss or not even notice the good stuff that is also happening in our life all along.

Because mindfulness challenges us to look at things as they are and to accept them for what they are rather than having to get rid of them we can learn to get less caught up in little details that are ‘not quite right’ or ‘less than perfect’. Subsequently, this ability to accept things as they are can also free us up to put more energy into focusing on positive things in our life and savor them.

Research into mindfulness has shown that mindfulness can reduce our negativity bias by helping us to reduce rumination, respond more flexibly to habitual responses and increase our flexibility in attention focus and in return help us to focus more on positive aspects in our life. Mindfully focusing on the little everyday blessings empowers us to re-author and transform a ‘negativity bias life story’ into an alternative story of ‘joy, contentment and zest for life’!

To find out more about our zest infusion mindfulness programs please contact us.

References:
Kiken, L. G. and Shook, N. J. (2011). Looking up: Mindfulness increases positive judgments and reduces negativity bias. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 2 (245).
Siegel, R. (2010). The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday practices for everyday problems. The Guilford Press, New York.