The tire is flat, and you were already running behind. You got into a petty argument with your partner over something silly. You open a cryptic email from your boss, wondering, āAm I about to be fired?!ā You completely flub a presentation.
The day is ruined.
Most of us have said it, or at least believed it in the privacy of our troubled minds. You know what you donāt usually hear, even after a stroke of good luck?
The day is saved!
This is because humans have whatās called a negativity bias. We tend to look for and fixate on threats to our well-being. Itās a defense mechanism designed to protect us, but it often just leaves us defensive and bracing for impact.
This would be a good time for me to argue that we can overcome this bias by proclaiming, āThe day is saved!ā whenever something seems to work in our favor. That we can balance the scales by focusing on having āgoodā days.
Iām not gonna do that. Because that would still leave us at the mercy of circumstance.
The truth is, no day is ruined or saved by one event. Today is nothing more than a box we use to try and contain the eternal now, the ever-expanding present moment.
The real shift happens when we stop judging the day by isolated events and focus on our power to respond, when we choose to see every moment not as proof that the day is good or bad but as an invitation to learn, course-correct, and grow.
Tomorrow isnāt a new day. Itās new right now. Itās all choiceāmoment to moment to moment.
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