What You Focus on Expands- A Treasure Hunt: How to Trick Your Brain into Having a Good Day

Day 4 of Relight Your Fire in February (PLUS Heart Leap Writing Hour starts at 9am—link at the bottom of this email)

Photo by Natanja Grün on Unsplash

You know when you wake up in a funk, and suddenly everything is annoying? Your coffee tastes like regret, your inbox is a pit of despair, and the news? Forget it. Before you know it, you’re slumped in a chair, doomscrolling like it’s an Olympic event.

Been there. Done that. Ordered the commemorative hoodie.

But here’s the plot twist: your brain is a sneaky little thing. It’s wired to show you more of whatever you’re already focusing on. If you decide life is a disaster, your brain goes, Great! Here’s more evidence—you're welcome! But if you start looking for signs of goodness, kindness, or just something absurdly joyful, guess what? Your brain will find them.

The Science Bit

Neuroplasticity – Your brain builds stronger pathways the more you think about something. Think miserable thoughts? Your brain will get REALLY GOOD at making you miserable. Think happy thoughts? It’s like emotional weightlifting.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) – Your personal search engine, filtering reality based on what’s most relevant to you. Ever decided you want a red car, and suddenly every car on the road is red? That’s the RAS at work. Use it wisely.

Confirmation Bias – Your brain loves to be right, even if it’s about terrible things. If you believe everyone is awful, you’ll only notice the rude ones. But if you believe people are actually really lovely, you’ll start spotting random acts of kindness everywhere.

The Tiny Treasure Hunt: Let’s Hack This System

Today, we're going to play a game