In the brain, negative "'truth-talk"' wires your brain to work against you, and positive "'truth-talk"' wires your brain to work for you.

At one time, when the idea of “positive thinking” was first becoming popular, it had many critics. Some people believed that positive thinking was nothing more than wishful thinking. They said that thoughts had no substance, went nowhere, and weren’t really important. That was before we had computer imaging technology that would let us look into the brain while we were thinking.


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What we learned from the field of neuroscience is that people who think in the negative actually wire more neural networks into the right prefrontal cortex of their brains. That’s a part of the brain that causes you to doubt or fear or flee or hide—to not take action, and not solve the problem! I refer to this area as the brain’s “failure center.” Negative "'truth-talk"' actually wires that part of the brain to be stronger and more active.

On the other hand, people who think in the positive grow more neural networks in the left prefrontal cortex of their brains. That’s a part of the brain that helps you search for alternatives, find solutions, take action and solve problems. I refer to this area as the brains’s “success center.” People who think in the positive wire that area of the brain to be stronger and more active. Negative "'truth-talk"' physically wires your brain to fail. Positive "'truth-talk"' wires your brain to succeed.