Hearing the Negative Louder Than the Positive
For several years now, I've made a conscious effort to be overwhelmingly positive and optimistic. As a once-proud pessimist, this is something I have to work at daily. It's also something I feel I've gotten pretty good at. Most of the time. And then, someone will give me negative feedback. This can be about something I've done, something I've created, or something I've only been marginally associated with. Suddenly, my positivity is down the drain. I'm obviously the worst person ever, unable to do anything right, and everything I've ever created is crap. I thought my tendency to hear the negative louder than the positive was just proof that I might never fully overcome my pessimistic tendencies. Today, I learned there's actually a scientific reason for this. All the way back in the 1970s, Dr. Robert Levenson and Dr. John Gottman studied the differences between happy and unhappy couples. They concluded happily married couples have a praise...