I saw an interesting Tik Tok yesterday —- I’ll pause for my wife to roll her eyes. She picks on me for going on Tik Tok.
I know people have their opinions about Tik Tok. Either it’s a waste of time or the Chinese are spying on us or it’s not for people my age. I find it interesting, entertaining, and it helps to pass the time while walking on the treadmill.
Anyway…..
I came across a post from a life coach who goes by the user name coachrachelleindra. Her bio says, “A life coach who teaches the shit they should have taught us in school.”
She mentioned how, a few years ago, she and her partner realized they were coming home from work everyday and sharing all the things that went wrong that day. Then they realized that they were missing each other all day, only to come home and dump on each other thereby making themselves depressed when they should be happy to be with each other. That’s when she suggested that they take a picture each day of the best thing that happened that day. That way, when they got home, they could share the best part of their day with each other. Interesting.
How many of us focus on the negative? You get home and someone asks, “How was your day?” If it was a great day you might lead with the good news but if it was a bad day or just a routine, mundane day you might immediately go to the worst parts. “I started my day by spilling my coffee, then we had a meeting that went on and on and I was so far behind all day!”
Turns out, there is neuroscience behind this practice of searching for the best parts of your day. Now I don’t profess to be qualified in neuroscience but stay with me, this is pretty interesting.
By looking for the good things or the best part of your day you are activating something called the “reticular activating system.” (I feel smarter just typing that.) Basically you get the “reticular activating system” to start looking for the best part all day long. So all day you are looking for the positives whether it be a conversation, a beautiful flower, the sunset….whatever. Rachel points out that this doesn’t mean she didn’t have bad days or bad parts to her day, it just meant that her “reticular activating system” was choosing to find positives in her day.
She also pointed out that seeing her boyfriend having this happiness in his day actually helped her to feel better. It’s something called “mirror neurons” (Wow! Look at me go with the smart stuff!) Have you ever noticed how, when you’re with someone who is happy, a little bit of that rubs off on you and you even start feeling better? It happens to me if my grandson is laughing or just enjoying life… I feel better.
Rachelle the life coach recommends you try this with a loved one, sibling, a child, whoever that might be for you. Share the joy… it will make you both feel better.
I think it’s worth trying. Let’s see how it works! Can’t hurt can it?
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