Rick Henson Taking In The Good Analysis

Julie Beck interviews Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist, about ways in which people can adopt a happy lifestyle. The first point explained by Dr. Henson is that our brains tend to focus on the negative, which leaves people stressed and unhappy. Dr. Hanson reasons that people need to take positive experiences seriously. In other words, he wants people to “sink positive experiences” deep in people’s brains. Dr. Henson calls this concept “taking in the good.” If people want to achieve this mindset, first they have get rid of positive thinking and adopt clear thinking, which put it briefly means to take into account positive and negative experiences. By relating a little story of evolution, Dr. Hanson arrives to the conclusion that positive
experiences use standard short-term memory while bad experiences are stored in the long-term memory. As a result, people focus more on bad experiences rather than in good ones. Dr. Hanson also observes that people are prone to stay in the “reactive mode” due to stress while people that are able to manage their emotions tend to stay in the “responsive mode.” According to the article, regular exercise is powerful as an antidepressant and provides mental health. Finally, people have “core needs,” which are safety, satisfaction, and connection. Basically Dr. Hanson implies that as long as people make connections in their lives, they will feel more appreciated and loved, which results in fulfilling the needs mentioned above.