TGIM: Rose Colored Glass Half Full

Welcome back to TGIM! I am a big fan of looking at situations with a glass half full perspective. It is probably the result of my environment, genetics, and luck. But a glass half full perspective just makes life easier. I am fortunate that this disposition comes naturally, but if you needed more of a reason to diligently work on this, let’s look at some science.
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If you’ve been around TGIM for a bit, you know we’re big fans gratitude. It sets your mindset for the day and has been shown repeatedly to be a habit of highly successful people. A new study came out from the Harvard School of Public Health that showed study participants who were in the highest tertile on a Gratitude Questionnaire scores had a 9% lower risk of all-cause mortality. Whether you write them down or make a mental note of your gratitudes each day, it has been shown to make a measurable difference.
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Starting with gratitude in the morning helps set the tone for your brain to look for the positive. You’re more likely to look at the rest of your day through this lens of rosey-colored glasses. In turn, this frame will allow you to see more of the good that exists in the world.
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We have a collection of neurons in your brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). It regulates behavioral arousal, consciousness, and motivation. Why it matters to you, and why it will help you see the glass half full, lies in its ability to filter.
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The RAS helps your brain pay attention to what is important and ignore the rest. The world is filled with stimulus. The noises, the sounds, smells, sensations, all our a constant source of input to our brains. The clothes we wear touching our skin, the sound of people talking, keyboards clacking, music playing, in addition to all of our other senses constantly receiving signals from our environment. If not for our RAS, we would be completely overstimulated constantly.
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The RAS picks what is important to pay attention to. This can be beneficial for survival when we have to worry about what would be threatening to our safety in the environment. But it also helps us simply get through the day. When you’re at work it helps filter out the noise of your job so you can focus on your task at hand. And the classic example of the function of the RAS is if you’re at a party with music and chatter, you are still attune to your name being called.

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So how does your RAS help you sport your rose-colored glasses?

Starting with practices such as identifying your gratitudes in the morning signal to your brain that this view is important to you. Looking at the positive side of things helps your RAS filter the surrounding world to be able to see what is good. The more you look for what is worth being grateful for, the more your RAS filters to see those things.
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It’s similar to after you buy a car (or know someone who bought a car) and begin to see that car everywhere. You never noticed how many of your exact car is on the road until you started driving one! The RAS begins to recognize your vehicle as significant and so filters out the dozens or hundreds of cars you see in a day to noticing them.
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You can use this to your advantage. If you practice your gratitudes and look for the glass half full perspective, your brain will start to be able to pick them out easier. On the other hand, if you look for the negative in everything, your brain will get better at identifying just that.
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Where you focus your energy (your thoughts, words, and actions), so too will your attention go. While your genetics and environment contribute to your level of optimism, you can improve your ability to see the glass half full. Practicing habits like gratitude and reframing help guide your RAS to filter out what you tell your brain is important. By telling your brain you want to see the good in the world, your RAS will get better at identifying the good that exists.

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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM. Or visit https://walshwellness.weebly.com/ for older editions and if you’d like to subscribe.

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This week, my podcast recommendation is from Rob Dial’s The Mindset Mentor, “How to Manifest Anything You Want.” Manifesting has become this trite, woo-woo topic in the personal development space. But if anyone were to explain it in a practical and applicable way, this is it. These seemingly cheesy and jaded topics are overdone for a reason, usually because they work. But it’s the explanation on how to achieve them that usually gets lost in the noise of the internet. Rob Dial does the topic justice.
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With that, email me with something that your RAS filters for? What do you notice a lot of? If you see a lot of it, it’s because your brain signals that it is important for you. Focus on what you want to be a focus in your life.
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Until next time,

Shannon