You may be wondering why you have negative thoughts even when life is going well. The reality is that our brains are wired to hold onto threats in our environment. This is called the survival brain.
What is the survival brain?
We hold onto threats in our mind to keep ourselves safe. Think of a child who accidentally touches a hot pan. Ouch! The child learned a lesson. Touching a hot pan is now hard wired into his mind as a threat — activating his survival brain. He will know the next time not to touch the pan or to use a hot pad.
Not all threats are real.
Sometimes our survival brain can go into overdrive, bringing negative thoughts into our daily lives that are more fear than reality. How often do you catch yourself picturing the negative rather than the positive in a situation? Maybe some co-workers are talking and your first thought is, “I bet they are saying something bad about me.” You are not alone.
In this video, I break down why our brains gravitate towards negative or ‘survival’ thinking and how to replace those negative thoughts with positive ones instead.
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