“Our minds are Velcro for negative information but Teflon for positive.” Rick Hanson
Reading a book, Gratitude Works by Robert Emmons, I came across this quote attributed to neuroscientist Rick Hanson. It seems there is a scientific basis for the ease with which I slip into and stick with the practice of negativity, what Emmons calls a “built in bias” toward negativity. This is an example of what is generally known in psychology as a “knowledge to performance gap” and is exemplified in Paul’s familiar conflict as stated in Romans 7:15-19:
“For I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do….”
Nothing in this, of course, makes “normal” feel good, but it does identify a commonality in the inclination to accentuate the negative, and a place from which to start cultivate a more grateful disposition.
It occurs to me... 