The Biology of Positivity

This short little video (with fun emojis!) goes along with this very useful article: Your Brain May Be Hard-wired to Focus on the Negative, But (With Practice) You Can Reprogram It by Leah Shafer and Iman Rastegari.

This notion of "positivity" overlaps with growth mindset in powerful ways. Instead of focusing on the negative (making mistakes, the fear of making mistakes, etc.), you really can train your brain to look at mistakes as useful information that you can use for your own learning. Some other good tips here include not comparing yourself to others and being patient with your own progress!

The Biology of Positivity

Here's a transcript of the video:

Your brain is hard-wired to focus on the negative. Fortunately, we can re-wire our neural connections. Learning new things makes your brain stronger, and repeating those new things creates new neurons The same is true for positive habits of mind; they're learnable and self-strengthening. Mindfulness is a bridge to positive habits:

• Take a break and look at something different. Savor the calm. 
• Look for good things in small moments.
• Look for and talk about the good traits of others.
• Exercise.
• Be persistent, knowing that change takes time. 

(image from the You Can Reprogram It article)