This sunny outlook shows up in attitudes: for example, that moving to a new city or meeting new people is an adventure opening up exciting possibilities-wonderful places to discover, new friends-rather than a scary step. When life brings a surprising positive moment, such as a warm conversation, the pleasant mood lasts and lasts.
As you might expect, people who experience life in this light fo cus on the silver lining, not just the clouds. The opposite, cynicism, breeds pessimism: not just a focus on the cloud, but the conviction that there are even darker ones lurking behind. It all depends on where you focus: the one mean fan, or the fifty thousand cheering ones.
In part positivity reflects the brain's reward circuitry in action. When we're happy, the nucleus accumbens, a region within the ventral striatum in the middle of the brain, activates. This circuitry seems vital for motivation and having a sense that what you're do ing is rewarding. Rich in dopamine, these circuits are a driver of positive feeling, striving toward our goals, and desire.
This combines with the brain's own opiates, which include en dorphins (the runner's-high neurotransmitters). The dopamine may fuel our drive and persistence, while the opiates tag that with a feeling of pleasure.
These circuits remain active while we stay positive. In a telling study comparing people with depression and healthy volunteers, Davidson found that after seeing a happy scene those with depres sion could not maintain the resulting positive feelings-their reward circuitry shut off much sooner.13 Our executive area can trigger this circuit, making us better able to sustain positive feeling, as in keep ing going despite setbacks, or just grinding away toward a goal that makes us smile when we picture what reaching it will be like. And positivity, in turn, has great payoffs for performance, energizing us so we can focus better, think more flexibly, and persevere.
Here's a question: If everything worked out perfectly in your life, what would you be doing in ten years?
J'hat query invites us to dream a little, to consider what really matters to us and how that might guide our lives.
This sunny outlook shows up in attitudes: for example, that moving to a new city or meeting new people is an adventure opening up exciting possibilities-wonderful places to discover, new friends-rather than a scary step. When life brings a surprising positive moment, such as a warm conversation, the pleasant mood lasts and lasts.
As you might expect, people who experience life in this light fo cus on the silver lining, not just the clouds. The opposite, cynicism, breeds pessimism: not just a focus on the cloud, but the conviction that there are even darker ones lurking behind. It all depends on where you focus: the one mean fan, or the fifty thousand cheering ones.
In part positivity reflects the brain's reward circuitry in action. When we're happy, the nucleus accumbens, a region within the ventral striatum in the middle of the brain, activates. This circuitry seems vital for motivation and having a sense that what you're do ing is rewarding. Rich in dopamine, these circuits are a driver of positive feeling, striving toward our goals, and desire.
This combines with the brain's own opiates, which include en dorphins (the runner's-high neurotransmitters). The dopamine may fuel our drive and persistence, while the opiates tag that with a feeling of pleasure.
These circuits remain active while we stay positive. In a telling study comparing people with depression and healthy volunteers, Davidson found that after seeing a happy scene those with depres sion could not maintain the resulting positive feelings-their reward circuitry shut off much sooner.13 Our executive area can trigger this circuit, making us better able to sustain positive feeling, as in keep ing going despite setbacks, or just grinding away toward a goal that makes us smile when we picture what reaching it will be like. And positivity, in turn, has great payoffs for performance, energizing us so we can focus better, think more flexibly, and persevere.
Here's a question: If everything worked out perfectly in your life, what would you be doing in ten years?
J'hat query invites us to dream a little, to consider what really matters to us and how that might guide our lives.
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