The Power of Positivity

 

From the Johns Hopkins Medicine website: People with a family history of heart disease who also had a positive outlook were one-third less likely to have a heart attack or other cardiovascular event within five to 25 years than those with a more negative outlook.

That’s the finding from Johns Hopkins expert Lisa R. Yanek, M.P.H., and her colleagues. This finding applied even in people with family history who had the most risk factors for coronary artery disease, and positive people from the general population were 13 percent less likely than their negative counterparts to have a heart attack or other coronary event.

Yanek and her team determined “positive” versus “negative” outlook using a survey tool that assesses a person’s cheerfulness, energy level, anxiety levels and satisfaction with health and overall life. But you don’t need a survey to assess your own positivity, says Yanek. “I think people tend to know how they are.”

The mechanism for the connection between health and positivity remains murky, but researchers suspect that people who are more positive may be better protected against the inflammatory damage of stress. Another possibility is that hope and positivity help people make better health and life decisions and focus more on long-term goals. Studies also find that negative emotions can weaken immune response.

What is clear, however, is that there is definitely a strong link between “positivity” and health. Additional studies have found that a positive attitude improves outcomes and life satisfaction across a spectrum of conditions—including traumatic brain injury, stroke and brain tumors.

In Parshat Tzav we find the verse (6:5): וְהָאֵ֨שׁ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֤חַ תּֽוּקַד־בּוֹ֙ לֹ֣א תִכְבֶּ֔ה וּבִעֵ֨ר עָלֶ֧יהָ הַכֹּהֵ֛ן עֵצִ֖ים בַּבֹּ֣קֶר בַּבֹּ֑קֶר “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out: every morning the priest shall feed wood to it…” The literal interpretation of this pasuk is that the fire of the mizbeiach must be kept perpetually burning. In the Beit Hamikdash, there was a special chamber where hot coals were kept alive, so that the fire on the mizbeach could be relit whenever necessary. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, first Rebbe of Chabad and author of the Tanya, offers a creative interpretation: “The fire on the Altar shall be kept burning within the Kohen; You shall extinguish the negativity.”

One way to maintain passion and a zest for life is to stay positive and to consciously vanquish negativity that can so easily creep in. The verse goes on to say that maintaining the fire on the altar was a daily, constant task for the Kohen. So too if we seek to keep our own fires burning we must seek ways to accentuate the positive and diminish the negative on an ongoing basis. Here are some suggestions from Johns Hopkins Medicine on how to stay positive:

Smile more. A University of Kansas study found that smiling—even fake smiling—reduces heart rate and blood pressure during stressful situations.

Practice reframing. Instead of stressing about a traffic jam, for instance, appreciate the fact that you can afford a car and get to spend a few extra minutes listening to music or the news, accepting that there is absolutely nothing you can do about the traffic.

As the Rebbes of Chabad were known to say, “Tracht gut, vet zayn gut! Think good, and it will be good!"