By nature and nurture, “yes” energy is an uphill battle. According to Alison Ledgerwood, our fundamental view of the world tends to tilt toward the negative. That leads me to believe that being positive is an uphill battle, at least for most people.
Humans are hardwired to look for the threats and dangers in their lives. Eons ago that was a life-or-death need. That wiring today just leads to pessimism and negativity, reactions to the real or perceived threats found by that ancient wiring system. Compounding your natural propensity for negativity, you were raised by people with the same propensity and are surrounded by those kind of people too. Maybe.
You know people who are positive and optimistic by nature. Are they the exception to the rule of the people you know? Can you see yourself becoming a yes-energy person?
It makes all the difference in the world to go for yes energy, to climb to the top of that hill. You owe it to yourself to change your attitude and change your surroundings. I know I sound like a know-it-all saying that, but I’m the messenger here, so don’t reject my recommendation out of hand.
Having “no” energy and being pessimistic is bad for your health, and your health gets worse as you age. Most aging people I know don’t like experiencing their health and physical decline. I guess nobody does, so take note that it gets worse as you age. According to scientists, having a weaker immune system contributes to poorer health for the pessimistic.
An observation of mine is that people with “no” energy wear unhappy faces, and those faces sag and wrinkle with age even more than happy faces do. And those sages and wrinkles exaggerate the unhappy look. Unhappy faces aren’t as loveable as happy faces, you know. Would you have love Mrs. Doubtfire if she’d had an unhappy face? No!
Another downside to not fighting that natural negative tendency is that pessimists have a weaker work and sports performance. They get discouraged by challenges and give up more easily. You can’t win a battle or score a game if you give up too soon. It takes optimism in your ability to learn and keep going to win.
Along with that tendency to walk away too soon is a lower work satisfaction. Ick. Having a job that you aren’t satisfied with gives you reason to be negative and have “no” energy. The desire for work satisfaction and winning would ideally help drive you to positive energy, and to wins.
The bottom line for pessimists and negative people is they have lower resiliency to emotional, career, and financial setbacks. Since life happens to everyone, and we all have setbacks, you aren’t alone there. You do have the option of turning your attitude around, learning the basics of resiliency, and adopting yes energy.
Yes energy comes from finding and having purpose. That pulls you toward the valued outcomes you seek in life with your health, work satisfaction, winning and succeeding at work and in sports. You’ll be more attractive as you age too; and the world can use more good looking old people.
People with yes energy have more creativity, productivity, and engagement too. Delightfully those traits fuel your energy reserves. Those traits contribute to your sense of purpose of well, again fueling your energy reserves.
Then there is the resiliency issue. Positive people are more resilient to setbacks because of the ability to tap that purpose-reservoir. You thus have drive, endurance, and success. That supports your energy and positive attitude. That supports yes energy.
Your energy isn’t an infinite resource. It has to be nurtured. Saying yes to the things that support your purpose renews that resource. Surrounding yourself with people who say yes and pursue their purpose renews that resource, or at least doesn’t drain it.
Dr. Travis Bradberry offers three things you can do to get and stay positive:
1.) Separate fact from fiction (you don’t “always” do things like spill your beer)
2.) Identify positive things to refocus your brain (you have found a solution to beer spilling)
3.) Create and maintain an attitude of gratitude (it reduces your cortisol — the stress hormone — by up to 23%)
You can’t lose with yes energy. Are you ready to step your positive attitude and yes energy a notch — or two? If you say yes to that, you are already on your way to a healthier, happier, more productive, and more satisfying life.
Yes!