Life Changing Mindset

Why does negative thinking come naturally, but positive thinking takes effort?

For me, and for every person I've ever met - except for those in denial, insane, or on anti-depressants, our natural resting state seems to focus towards the negative, worst-case-scenario thinking rather than the positive, everything will be amazing, thinking. Why should this be? For me personally, my life-experience should lead me to feel grateful for what I have rather than always expect the worse and feel jealous of anyone who has more than me without working for it.
Are humans born with catastrophic brains, as a survival mechanism based on preparing for the worst in our caves?

Public Comments

1. Maybe some sort of mental entropy thing. Easier to think of how things could be destroyed, go wrong, etc. than to use the energy to think of how it could be built up, utilized productively, and so on.

But, in all fairness, (and I hate to pick nits here,) I do think that assuming your experience is a "natural" default one, or one had by everyone, is wrong.

Some people insist on looking at the world through rosy lenses, some people are more practical in sizing things up, some, are negative, cynical, etc. There are countless perspectives, and even change/evolve within a person through his or her lifetime.

Either way, I don't think it particularly healthy to look at everything as one extreme or the other, instead, looking for the most reasonable, probable outcome(s) and devising a plan of action, or an opinion, accordingly.

2. Maybe because good feelings are fleeting and bad feelings persist.

Make a conscious choice to push away some of the negative things in life. For example, on TV theres a lot of those doom-sayer TV shows that say an asteroid will be here any day or the News in general is a negative influence.

3. I take anti-depressants and I still have that problems, I think it human nature to always want more, its how you deal with it that makes a difference, people have to fight those thought everyday for some people it might come easier then other but we all have them, and when people say they don't they're lying or just won't admitted

4. Hi. I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am also waiting for large chunks of the sky to fall down on my head and around my ears. But of course I have a psychosis, so maybe I don't count? It could be paranoia on my part. Or I could be a really smart crazy person. But let me tell you what I saw today, just a few minutes ago sitting outside in the sun - a cloud as big as a man's hand. I said to my husband, "Oh dear, there is a cloud as big as a man's hand. Do you think It is a Bad Omen?" He said I would probably know more about that than he would. So I decided that really it wasn't so bad and that to be Positive and Upbeat I would just come inside and eat lunch.