Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandra Bostwick 
I was fascinated by Chapter 1, section 2- discussing the sentiment override, and how positive people will interpret something in an empowering way, while negative people will interpret it in a negative way. It works as a buffer that influences their whole world view. WOW!!!
I knew that intuitively, but I'd never heard it put so well.
I've seen so many situations where sabatoge just takes over and, before you know it, the ball is rolling full speed down hill.
I'd LOVE to know why it seems that the negativity bandwagon is so much louder than the one seeking to make things better.
Has anyone out there seen the same trend? |
Absolutely! I'm wondering if any of you watched the Michael J. Fox special. It was fascinating to me because they performed a study to distinguish between Optimists and Pessimists and how they view the world. Michael and his wife are opposites much like my DH and I are. What I found amazing was that in order to overcome obstacles optimists and pessimists need completely different tools. With the group that tested as optimists, they needed reaffirming statements like everything will be fine, you'll do great. Pessimists needed more specific advice based on the reality of the situation. Here is what you need to do , this is the worst that can happen, here is how you prepare for it. When they swapped the groups and provided the opposite support, both groups failed miserably. To me it was a complete Ah Hah moment. When my son went in to get braces years ago, I provided support by giving him details of what they were going to do. What I remembered as the worst part and how long that would take...DH was completely frustated with me he said "Geez you're going to freak him out just tell him everything is going to be fine." The good and bad news is that whether or not your are an optimist is part genetic part conditioning. I'm hoping to pass on enough conditioning to overcome my genetic predisposition to be a pessimist.
