14 Dec 20 This Week’s Guest: 2020 - Goodness in the Year Just Ending

2020 is basically just a year – a number on our calendars and on deteriorating campaign signs. But we all know that the truth about 2020 is way beyond that. The year we are bequeathing to the past is a pessimist’s summer garden. If you want to bring on fatigue, increase your anxiety, feel distraught (angry? persecuted?) simply allow yourself to slither off the edge and free fall into the proverbial list of messes of everything that went wrong in 2020.

But wait. Another complementary, perspective is available for the taking: Find the good in 2020 and Praise It. Still, something in our nature frequently – if not mostly – discourages us from choosing this more buoyant road less travelled. Yes, instead of putting most of our attention on the “bad” things that happened, the alternative viewpoint notices the positive. Now, as in the rest of the universe, reality is full of dualities, opposites, so what I’ve just said does not preclude taking both points of view as feels appropriate at any given time or while involved in any particular experience

In the body of this post, a list of pretty-good-to-excellent items appears for your review. The focus of this post is to give a fair shake to the plus side of 2020. (Yes, Virginia, the list is here and it’s long.) Hopefully, the list provides the sights and sounds of the “road less traveled.”

That still leaves the question of why most human beings see the negative more times than they see the positive. Even when someone gets a windfall, there’s a likelihood of fear of loss for what’s just been gained. Similarly, if a person has had unpleasant experiences in one relationship, a wariness of having more objectionable interactions shadows the positive possibilities. We seem to be perpetually standing on the wall, surveying the horizon for what the next “bad” thing will be.

Research says that humans are hardwired for negativity.

Important Note: To get the full flavor of what this hardwiring is about, be sure to check out the “Background” section below the list of positive 2020 items. The source article is worth reading.

At the end of November, this Monday post focused on “Gratitude.” What is listed below may sound somewhat like that. On the other hand, we typically feel gratitude for the positive people, places, and objects in our lives, so the gratitude list does have a lot in common with this one.

Here’s the list I gleaned from a number of sources, including yours truly. As you read it, and think, “This isn’t poetry, as is supposed to be on Mondays, try thinking of the is as free verse with line breaks and no rhyming.

Dogs are mostly still affectionate and fun.

Lovers eyes still meet.

If you are reading this, you are above ground and not in an urn.

Black Lives Matter gains against systemic racism.

Following the halt of nearly the entire entertainment industry because of the coronavirus pandemic, many artists took their performances online in a display of “the show must go on” mentality.

John Krasinski, best-known for playing Jim Halpert in “The Office,” tried to boost people’s pandemic moods and spirits with his YouTube series “Some Good News.

Man finds 9.07-carat diamond, thought it was a piece of glass.

Police officer receives kidney transplant from woman he put in jail.

Four-year-old twin girls dress up as Trump and Biden ahead of Halloween, 2020 election.

Single foster dad adopts five siblings so they can all stay together.

A dog finds his forever home after spending 729 days in shelter.

A fifth grader started a Thanksgiving charity initiative called “Race to 100k Meals.” He collected and donated tens of thousands of snack bags from volunteers containing water, fruit, a granola bar, and a positive message written on the bag. Chobani also donated yogurt.

Americans rushed to adopt and foster pets in need amid the pandemic.

We also have time to read again and we're seizing the moment to educate ourselves: books like Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility and Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist have topped USA TODAY's best-selling books list for weeks.

Puzzles and board games became cool again and offered a much-needed break from our screens.

Distilleries, both small and large, around the country used their resources to produce badly needed hand sanitizer.

Major companies such as 3M and Apple pooled resources or shifted production to make millions of masks to help keep people safe.

Ford, GM, Tesla and other automakers were able to make ventilators and other medical devices to help with the pandemic.

Crayola launched a box of crayons with diverse skin colors for children to "accurately color themselves into the world."

Amazon introduced fun new boxes that can be turned into a cat fort or robot costume.

We learned that homeschooling is hard and finally recognized teachers for the heroes that they are.

Health care workers and essential workers. Also heroes.

Restaurants shared their secret recipes so we could make them at home.

Wearing sweatpants and tees became acceptable fashion choices all day, every day.

Restaurants got awesomely creative to enforce social distancing including pool noodle hats, bumper boats, and dapper mannequin guests.

People around the country brushed up on their sewing skills, making masks for people who need them most.

Puzzles and board games became cool again and offered a much-needed break from our screens.

Brad Pitt charmed us with jokes during awards season. He also won his first Oscar and made a hunky Anthony Fauci on Saturday Night Live.

Love is still blossoming amid quarantine thanks to drones, digital dinners, and an inflatable plastic bubble.

Celebrities surprised graduates at virtual commencement ceremonies.

Smaller movies and hidden gems are suddenly at our fingertips (streaming!)

Musicians took to social media to give us personal concerts from home.

Late night talk show hosts continued to bring the funny from their homes, with adorable special guests — their kids.

While coronavirus pushed many museums to close, it opened up their collections to audiences virtually.

People brought out their Christmas decorations to bring cheer during quarantine.

Fauci says Santa Claus is immune to COVID-19.

Background

Research in human psychology says that humans are hardwired for negativity. Certainly, one can find plenty to complain about, and it is true that “Baby, baby, it’s a wild world out there.” (Cat Stevens, 1971). Still, somehow, sometimes, we do find the positive. Why does our species (and others) gravitate toward the unfortunate aspects of living, at the expense of what makes us smile or even laugh? And how about this? Studies show that negative news is more likely to be perceived as truthful! The science of evolution says the negative bias is one way our big brain tries to keep us safe. Think about being assaulted or some other harrowing incident. Then consider the succeeding “trigger” reactions (anxiety, PTSD) caused by the incident even when there is no threat in reality. Still, the body reacts, for survival reasons, as if the imagined incident is real.

We register the negative provocations more deeply, and we dwell on those negative experiences longer than is true of positive experiences. But why? The science says it’s likely that in the early times of our species, paying serious attention to threats could save your life or keep you from grave harm. It’ the genetic The Red Queen (Matt Ridley 1993) that explains this. Humans and other creatures (watch a mouse evading a digging dog) who register and pay attention to danger, not only have a higher survival rate, but also are more likely to pass on that capacity to pay attention in the first place.

In short list of the results includes tendencies to:

·    spend greater levels of attention to the negative things in our environment (e.g., gunslingers, gangs, and gazpacho)

·         learn more for longer from unfortunate experiences and their results

·         make decisions biased toward negative information

Source: “What is the Negativity Bias?” Kendra Cherry, April 2020.

Exploration 1: If you notice that you have a negativity bias, a) would you be interested in changing it to some degree; b) do you think that changing it would make you more vulnerable to danger; c) make you appear to be unrealistically optimistic?

Exploration 2: Do you believe what’s said in this post’s intro and background?

Exploration 3: Make your own list of 5-10 good things from 2020’s calendar of events.

As a sign-off from your unusually Pollyanna-ish Monday poet:

“Find the Good and Praise It”

 

May the Blessing Be – and when they aren’t, may we be blessings for each other