Shade Zahrai

And it's part of our social evolution.

It helps keep us safe and alive.

So these parts of the brain are interpreting what are people feeling right now,

And then what they do is mimic that.

So then you feel that too, which allows you to better connect with somebody.

But also if someone just has that negative pessimistic energy, you are more likely to catch that negative pessimistic energy.

And it's not even something you voluntarily do.

But again, we need to remember that I love coming back to this idea of choice and ownership.

In those moments, it's really easy to say, well, I have no choice, it's happening.

And in a way, yes, it is, because it's the default way the brain operates.

but you can still, you know, by not actively redirecting your attention, you're still choosing to let it happen.

I remember when I was studying law and ethics, we were looking at, you know, you can either make a choice or you can make a choice by not making a choice.

That is still a choice.

And when you realize that, it's really empowering because you realize, okay, I can choose at any point in time to change my attention, change my focus, reframe my thinking.

And if I don't, then I'm choosing not to.

So again, it just re-empowers you with choice.

So going back to what we were talking about, the idea of other people in our lives, energy is contagious.

Also, you might say, okay, well, can I positively influence someone who is negative?

It's much harder to do because of the brain's negativity bias, but you can do it through consistently being the same way around them.

Because then they start to anticipate, oh, this person is always positive and optimistic and real with me.