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People with a high level of stress tolerance turn unpleasant situations into opportunities to learn something new. But not all of us are optimists. However, our brain is designed in such a way that it can be reprogrammed and it is much easier to go through life's troubles. Here are some tips from John Arden, an accomplished neurophysiologist and author of The Taming of the Amygdala.
Optimism and Resilience to Stress: Where to Find Them
Emotionally tough people adapt to their circumstances by focusing on hidden possibilities. For example, due to a lack of finance, you take a new job and find that it is much more difficult, a lot of time and energy, you have to work overtime. It's hard for you to get out of your comfort zone, and therefore dissatisfaction builds up. But, probably, after a while you will find that the new field of activity is more interesting and better than the old one.
You may have been lucky and something very close to your expectations happened, but did you really enjoy it? It is likely that you find yourself too busy waiting for the next specific result.
If you are attached to the expectation of a specific result, but something else turns out, you feel frustrated.
As a rule, everything does not turn out quite as you ardently wish, and you have two options for action: accept what happened, or regret that the desired result has not been achieved. In any case, you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to live in the present and enjoy the here and now.
Fortitude is about staying hopeful in the face of challenges and doing what it takes to make things better. This kind of optimism is part of emotional intelligence.
Harmful pessimism
A pessimistic attitude badly affects not only mental, but also physical health. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania suggested that pessimism negatively affects health for the following reasons:
Neurosciences and Joy of Life
Optimism is not just the belief that the glass is half full. Stress gives you the chance to try to do something differently, in a new way - in a way you have never done before. And if you focus on this opportunity, who knows where it will lead? No wonder they say that there is a silver lining. And what is most interesting, this saying is increasingly being confirmed by science.
The ability to recover from a negative emotional state is an important characteristic of stress resistance.
Interhemispheric asymmetry - it implies that the hemispheres participate in different processes (creativity, perception, speech) in different ways - is also associated with human emotions. Scientists have found that people who have a dominant left frontal lobe tend to be optimistic, actively act and believe that their efforts will bring results. But those with the right frontal lobe "more important" tend to have a negative emotional style of behavior. They are more prone to anxiety, sadness, restlessness, passivity, and refusal to take action.
The good news is that there are ways to reflash your brain. People who have a dominant left frontal lobe ("positive") are able to neutralize negativity. It turns out that a person's resistance to stress depends on the ability to suppress negative emotions, including the emotion of fear, for the manifestation of which the amygdala (or amygdala) is responsible.
Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin was one of the first to study the phenomenon of interhemispheric asymmetry and its influence on the emotional state of a person. He suggested that people who practice positive emotional attitudes and attitudes toward life, such as through mindfulness meditation, become more stress-resistant.
How to change your attitude towards life
The approach to life and the attitude towards the events that happen to you greatly affect the level of stress and the ability to change your emotional attitude. Here are some tips to help you rewire your brain to a positive wave.
1. Do not wear a "victim t-shirt"
People who have a positive view of the world and deal with problems more easily have a realistic awareness that what they are doing is in their area of control. They see themselves as active participants in the process, and not as helpless victims of the prevailing circumstances. They do not demonstrate learned helplessness and know how to take off the "victim's shirt" in time.
2. Set yourself ambitious goals
In keeping with the principle that moderate stress helps rewire the brain and provides a "vaccine" against more severe stress, set goals that require extra effort from you.
3. Treat change as a chance for a better life.
Try to view changes, even bad ones (although this most likely so at first glance) as an opportunity to act in a new way, and not as a crisis from which you need to defend yourself.
4. Don't Forget Social Medicine
The support of friends and family is more important than you think. People with a high level of stress tolerance actively use social support, which mitigates the consequences of stressful situations for them. At the same time, it should be aimed at caring and encouraging, and not arouse self-pity and dependence in a person.
5. Do what you like
Scientists have found that stress-resistant people invest their time and effort in what they do. They are full of energy and interest in their work.
6. Don't let yourself get bored
Moderate stress levels will keep you from getting bored of your daily routine. Psychology professor at the University of Chicago, Mihai Csikszentmihalyi, described how you can avoid anxiety from overstimulation and at the same time not succumb to boredom. Finding a balance between these two states creates a state of "flow" in a person that brings real pleasure.
7. Be inquisitive
Curiosity plays an important role in how efficiently the brain works. If you develop an insatiable curiosity, any environment you find yourself in will become a source of new experiences and knowledge for you. An emotionally and intellectually rich environment stimulates the neuroplasticity property of the brain, while an environment devoid of these characteristics leads to degradation.
There are people who, after serious injuries, thanks to their resilience, began a new life. They don't forget what they went through, but they don't sit back and wait for something good to happen. Instead, they work hard. And you need yourself as well. They are worth admiring and remembering about such examples when you find yourself in a series of failures. You can start rewiring your brain by creating a positive attitude yourself, and you will succeed.
PS Did you like it? Subscribe to our useful newsletter. Once every two weeks, we send a selection of the best articles from the blog
Based on the book "The Taming of the Amygdala"
Optimism and Resilience to Stress: Where to Find Them
Emotionally tough people adapt to their circumstances by focusing on hidden possibilities. For example, due to a lack of finance, you take a new job and find that it is much more difficult, a lot of time and energy, you have to work overtime. It's hard for you to get out of your comfort zone, and therefore dissatisfaction builds up. But, probably, after a while you will find that the new field of activity is more interesting and better than the old one.
You may have been lucky and something very close to your expectations happened, but did you really enjoy it? It is likely that you find yourself too busy waiting for the next specific result.
If you are attached to the expectation of a specific result, but something else turns out, you feel frustrated.
As a rule, everything does not turn out quite as you ardently wish, and you have two options for action: accept what happened, or regret that the desired result has not been achieved. In any case, you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to live in the present and enjoy the here and now.
Fortitude is about staying hopeful in the face of challenges and doing what it takes to make things better. This kind of optimism is part of emotional intelligence.
Harmful pessimism
A pessimistic attitude badly affects not only mental, but also physical health. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania suggested that pessimism negatively affects health for the following reasons:
- you do not believe that your actions can make a difference;
- more bad things happen in your life because you react negatively to neutral situations, and because you make unnecessary or incorrect efforts;
- pessimism suppresses the immune system.
Neurosciences and Joy of Life
Optimism is not just the belief that the glass is half full. Stress gives you the chance to try to do something differently, in a new way - in a way you have never done before. And if you focus on this opportunity, who knows where it will lead? No wonder they say that there is a silver lining. And what is most interesting, this saying is increasingly being confirmed by science.
The ability to recover from a negative emotional state is an important characteristic of stress resistance.
Interhemispheric asymmetry - it implies that the hemispheres participate in different processes (creativity, perception, speech) in different ways - is also associated with human emotions. Scientists have found that people who have a dominant left frontal lobe tend to be optimistic, actively act and believe that their efforts will bring results. But those with the right frontal lobe "more important" tend to have a negative emotional style of behavior. They are more prone to anxiety, sadness, restlessness, passivity, and refusal to take action.
The good news is that there are ways to reflash your brain. People who have a dominant left frontal lobe ("positive") are able to neutralize negativity. It turns out that a person's resistance to stress depends on the ability to suppress negative emotions, including the emotion of fear, for the manifestation of which the amygdala (or amygdala) is responsible.
Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin was one of the first to study the phenomenon of interhemispheric asymmetry and its influence on the emotional state of a person. He suggested that people who practice positive emotional attitudes and attitudes toward life, such as through mindfulness meditation, become more stress-resistant.
How to change your attitude towards life
The approach to life and the attitude towards the events that happen to you greatly affect the level of stress and the ability to change your emotional attitude. Here are some tips to help you rewire your brain to a positive wave.
1. Do not wear a "victim t-shirt"
People who have a positive view of the world and deal with problems more easily have a realistic awareness that what they are doing is in their area of control. They see themselves as active participants in the process, and not as helpless victims of the prevailing circumstances. They do not demonstrate learned helplessness and know how to take off the "victim's shirt" in time.
2. Set yourself ambitious goals
In keeping with the principle that moderate stress helps rewire the brain and provides a "vaccine" against more severe stress, set goals that require extra effort from you.
3. Treat change as a chance for a better life.
Try to view changes, even bad ones (although this most likely so at first glance) as an opportunity to act in a new way, and not as a crisis from which you need to defend yourself.
4. Don't Forget Social Medicine
The support of friends and family is more important than you think. People with a high level of stress tolerance actively use social support, which mitigates the consequences of stressful situations for them. At the same time, it should be aimed at caring and encouraging, and not arouse self-pity and dependence in a person.
5. Do what you like
Scientists have found that stress-resistant people invest their time and effort in what they do. They are full of energy and interest in their work.
6. Don't let yourself get bored
Moderate stress levels will keep you from getting bored of your daily routine. Psychology professor at the University of Chicago, Mihai Csikszentmihalyi, described how you can avoid anxiety from overstimulation and at the same time not succumb to boredom. Finding a balance between these two states creates a state of "flow" in a person that brings real pleasure.
7. Be inquisitive
Curiosity plays an important role in how efficiently the brain works. If you develop an insatiable curiosity, any environment you find yourself in will become a source of new experiences and knowledge for you. An emotionally and intellectually rich environment stimulates the neuroplasticity property of the brain, while an environment devoid of these characteristics leads to degradation.
There are people who, after serious injuries, thanks to their resilience, began a new life. They don't forget what they went through, but they don't sit back and wait for something good to happen. Instead, they work hard. And you need yourself as well. They are worth admiring and remembering about such examples when you find yourself in a series of failures. You can start rewiring your brain by creating a positive attitude yourself, and you will succeed.
PS Did you like it? Subscribe to our useful newsletter. Once every two weeks, we send a selection of the best articles from the blog
Based on the book "The Taming of the Amygdala"
