What would be the most evolutionarily advantageous? 

Heliotropism is a biological term that describes the motion of flowers or leaves in response to the direction of the sun.

If you’ve ever noticed plants turning and growing toward the light, that’s called the heliotrope effect.

What’s fascinating is, human beings apparently took a page from the plant bible.

Cameron writes in his book about positive leadership that the tendency in all living systems is to move toward positive energy and away from negative energy. From single cell organisms to complex human systems, everything that’s alive has an inherent inclination toward the positive and away from the negative.

Yes, our brain’s negativity bias is ancient and powerful. Tens of thousands of years ago, we developed an adaptive ability to pick up on negative cues because it was evolutionarily advantageous, and that’s great. This bias is still useful for survival.

But think about every job you’ve ever had. Every class you’ve ever taken. Every team you were ever a part of. Every date you ever went on.

From an interpersonal dynamics perspective, most people still have an inherent inclination toward the positive. People gravitate to those who foster an affirmative orientation in their dealings with others. Period. Doesn’t mean those who are more negative are cast to bowels of hell, but the odds of success are dramatically higher if you can become the sun whose light people want to bask in.

Carlin once joked that he worshiped the sun, since it gave him everything he needed. Heat, light, food, flowers in the park, reflections on the lake, an occasional skin cancer, but hey, at least there were no crucifixions.

What about you? Does your energy give people cold information or warm affirmation?

And don’t worry, it’s not like you have to be happy and smiling all the time. Human emotions are vast and complex, and we should give ourselves permission to experience all of them. As long as we disproportionately favor the light.

The above research on positivity found that when people demonstrate a three to one ratio or higher of positive to negative emotions, they are immensely advantaged. They live longer, get sick less, recover from illness faster, stay married longer, tolerate pain better, work harder, earn more money, make better decisions, demonstrate greater creativity and bounce back after trauma faster.

And so, if you don’t feel like being positive for other people’s benefit, do it for yourself. It’s evolutionarily advantageous. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What if positivity was the closest thing our species had to real magic?