Positive Attitude Stimulates Memory

Take risks, see the opportunity in the midst of difficulties, trust yourself, learn from mistakes, have a good sense of humor…. All those dimensions act not only as a good psychological support. A recent study also reveals that a positive attitude stimulates memory and consolidates learning and experiences. 

Since Abraham Maslow laid the foundations for positivity as a science in 1950, this approach has only gained traction. It was in the 1990s when Martin Seligman wanted to take a turn in psychology and, to do so, he stopped focusing on the field of disorders and deficits. He decided to teach people to develop their strengths to achieve a resilient, happy and fulfilling life.

Now, today , we have ushered in a second wave of positive psychology. Figures, like the psychologist Paul Wong, go a little further to remind us that human existence always has a dark side. The metaphor used is that of ying and yang , light and darkness.

In this way, the positive attitude now starts from the ability to assume and face daily adversities, accepting aspects such as failure, error, loss or even death. These abilities also act as valuable psychological mechanisms for the brain. So much so that this approach even allows us to protect the cognitive deterioration associated with the passage of time.

Positive Attitude Boosts Memory: Traits That Can Help You Do It

A recent study reveals that a positive attitude stimulates memory. A team of researchers from Northwestern University, in Illinois, United States, has been in charge of carrying out this work, which has lasted for almost 19 years. Thus, almost 1,000 people underwent rigorous monitoring between 1995 and 2014 to find out the relationship between positive mindset and cognitive performance.

The results were very indicative and showed something that, in a way, had already been sensed. People with adequate psychological skills to handle everyday difficulties with optimism reached old age with good memory performance. What’s more, a positive attitude is also correlated with better physical health and life expectancy.

This conclusion only reinforces many of the conclusions of other works. However, and due to the huge number of books published on positive psychology, sometimes there is a tendency to slightly distort what we understand by positivity or a positive attitude. Therefore, it is worth delving into those aspects that can allow us to see life in a hopeful way and, in turn, contribute to the strengthening of our cognitive processes.

See the opportunity amid the difficulty

Being positive basically derives from a concept: knowing how to position yourself. We are not, far from it, before a passive behavior, the kind that is limited only to trusting that fate will always be favorable.

On the contrary, the attitude that allows us to develop our psychological skills is one that strives, that ideas, analyzes, reflects and always tries to see the opportunity in the midst of difficulties.

Focus on possible solutions and not just on the problem

The positive attitude stimulates memory because it encourages us to keep the brain active, to refine each cognitive process, to enhance competences such as observation, deduction, attention, analysis … In this way, the most defeatist approaches will always tend to put the attention to problems and not so much to possible solutions.

Negativity only sees walls, the positive mind, on the other hand, glimpses possibilities and for this, designs not one, but multiple solutions, outputs and answers to face that challenge.

Broadens perspectives, the value of seeing beyond what is in front of us

In the midst of chaos and difficulty, it is common for us to limit ourselves to seeing what is closest to us. The bills to pay, the work that hangs by a thread and that can be finished are overwhelmed. It scares that relationship that is losing complicity, illusion, affection … When the day to day is not easy, the mind operates in zoom mode : it focuses on the complicated and makes it bigger.

That is not a good strategy. The best thing to do is to broaden perspectives, create a wide angle and see things in a distance and more relative. By seeing things at a distance, we subtract negative intensity from what bogs us down with it, stress is reduced.

This is how we deduce, for example, that the difficulty at work may be temporary. We also tell ourselves that perhaps, if in the end that relationship does not mature and breaks down, it may be best for us in the long run. Any task that allows us to reduce stress acts as a cathartic mechanism for the brain. All this reverts to our cognitive functions such as memory.

To err and lose, an opportunity to learn

One of the main purposes of Paul Wong in his reformulation of positive psychology was to provide it with adequate strategies for stress management and the ability to face aspects such as loss, disappointments, mistakes …

Positive attitude boosts memory (and stimulating relationships can help)

There are people who stress you out and people who inspire you. If we want to win in mental health, it is convenient to remember a fact that they reveal to us in the aforementioned study. The positive attitude stimulates the memory because many of those who apply this mentality surround themselves with stimulating figures.

What does this mean? It means that optimism is also contagious and that it is always good to surround ourselves with people who bring us hope, who invite us to learn, to experiment, to be more flexible in our ideas … Quality social relationships, which stimulate us mentally and emotionally, they also revert to memory.

The positive mind is one that, even in the midst of difficulties, relies on its own resources to make things go better or, at least, make sense. All of this turns on, activates and reinforces many of the most basic cognitive processes. It is worth trying, putting it into practice …