Interesting read about how our brains tag experiences as good or bad. It would be great to extend the study to see what interventions a person could make in their lives such that they tag fewer things as bad and consequently have a sunnier disposition, better mental health, Serving others in whatever way possible seems to be one way to get there - it expands a person's world view seeing others tagging things very differently from them. For me personally, one particular experience stands out as a recalibration trigger in my brain. The guy was a fish-monger in the small town I grew up in. He had very little going for him - sat in the corner of the market for the smaller vendors who could not afford to hold big fish in their inventory. He was maybe ten years older than me and supporting his family who lived in a nearby village. My father would chat with him every time we bought fish - I was frequently there with him. K was one of the most cheerful people I had seen.
Never saw the brightness of his smile diminish as he struggled to eke out a living. By the time I left to college he had moved to the stalls where the bigger fish-mongers sat. He would tell my father about how he was slowly improving his village home and when we was done adding the extra room he would get married. He also talked about troubles which seemed endless but he had a way of finding the silver lining which I clearly could not see. His brain was clearly set up to tag most things as good and just about nothing as entirely bad. I was in awe of how K did this and in times of trouble tried to recall those conversations between him and my father, how he processed information and came to conclusions I would not have been able to. I am nowhere close to his abilities but to this day, I use his example as inspiration on how to deal with adversity.
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