18. Spot, Stop, Swap.

Spot, Stop, Swap

Why do we pick up on the negative more than the positive?

What we know from research around the negative bias is that our brains give more psychological weight to the negative than the positive. This is a product of our evolution. If you didn’t attend to negative risks such as the snake or tiger then your survival was at risk. Negative things could kill you more than positive things. Positive emotions are like teflon they tend to slip off and negative emotions are like velcro they stick like glue. I learned about a simple method for reframing negative thoughts in my head called ‘Spot, Stop, Swap’ from a podcast by Jay Shetty (former monk whose aim is to make wisdom to go viral using video, podcasts and social media platforms).

Spot - notice and recognise the negative thought as it appears (develops awareness)

Stop - what are the environmental cues that triggers these thoughts? Is there a pattern of time, place and people that bring these negative thoughts on?

Swap - once you have spotted the negative thought, stop it and swap it with an empowering and uplifting alternative.

My 18th ‘Live Up To you, 19 for 19’ challenge has been putting this simple method in place and it has been an interesting experience. For me if a negative thought goes unchecked it causes a downward spiral of negativity and I found this method really helpful in putting my thoughts into perspective. Like anything it requires practice and with practice you get better at it. Go ahead try this easy to remember strategy and see how it works for you.