ತಲೆತುಂಬ ಬರಿ ನೆಗೆಟಿವಿಟಿ! ಈ ಮನಸು ಯಾಕೆ ಹೀಗೆ?| How to overcome Negative Thinking| Dr Malini Suttur
Have you ever noticed how one negative comment can weigh heavier than a hundred compliments? That’s not just a flaw in our thinking—it’s a natural tendency rooted in the very way our brains are built. Even when we’re surrounded by appreciation, the mind often clings to the one piece of criticism. This tendency is more than psychological—it's biological.
In a conversation with Dr. Malini Suttur, Chairperson of the Department of Genetics and Genomics at the University of Mysore, the reasons behind this mental pattern were explored deeply. From an evolutionary standpoint, our ancestors had to be hyper-aware of danger. A single threat could mean life or death. So our brains evolved to prioritize negative cues. This is why, even today, we react more strongly to bad news, criticism, or fear.
This ingrained negativity bias is why, when you receive overwhelmingly positive feedback, one hurtful remark might dominate your attention. Or why, during a peaceful moment, a past unpleasant memory might suddenly disturb your calm. The brain is simply doing what it was trained to do—scan for threats and focus on survival.
But this pattern doesn’t serve us well in the modern world. Today, we rarely face physical threats. Instead, most challenges are emotional or social. Yet our minds still treat these like life-and-death situations, releasing stress hormones like cortisol, which affect our health over time. Chronic stress from persistent negativity can lead to illness, burnout, and emotional fatigue.
So what’s the way out?
The first step is awareness. Recognizing that our brain naturally favors negative thinking gives us the power to change our responses. Instead of reacting emotionally, we can pause and reflect.
This brings us to a key distinction: rumination vs. reflection.
Rumination is repetitive, obsessive thinking about what went wrong. It traps us in cycles of blame, regret, and fear. It’s exhausting and often harmful.
Reflection, on the other hand, involves mindful observation. It means stepping back, asking what can be learned from a situation, and choosing to let go of what we can’t control. Reflection helps our body and mind move out of the stress state and into healing. It activates chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, boosts immunity, and builds resilience.
By choosing reflection, we also protect those around us. Negative energy is contagious. A person who constantly complains or criticizes can bring down the morale of a family or workplace. That’s why boundaries are important—not just to shield ourselves, but to nurture environments where growth and understanding thrive.
Our brain’s default-mode network is the mental space we enter when we are not focused on a task. This space is where daydreaming and spontaneous thoughts happen. But it can easily slip into rumination. When we become aware of this, we can redirect our thoughts consciously—using logic and awareness to create a pause between a trigger and our response. In that pause, we can choose kindness, patience, or simply a more balanced interpretation.
Take a common example: someone doesn’t invite you to a gathering. Your first thought might be, “They don’t like me.” But reflection might lead you to ask, “Could there be another reason?” This shift alone can change your emotional landscape, preserving relationships and inner peace.
Even in moments of conflict—whether with friends, partners, or family—reflection brings understanding. It allows us to listen better, speak more kindly, and move from reaction to resolution.
Spiritual traditions across cultures recommend practices like meditation, prayer, fasting, or vow-keeping for a set number of days. These aren’t random rituals—they are exercises in rewiring the brain. Just like habits form over time, so does a mindset. Practicing gratitude, calmness, or mindfulness every day strengthens those mental pathways.
Life is unpredictable. Some days are sunny, others stormy. But if we develop samatva—a sense of inner balance—we can navigate even the harshest trials with grace. Samatva is the spiritual calm that doesn’t depend on external circumstances.
Lastly, embracing gratitude is transformative. Instead of seeing challenges as punishments, we begin to see them as lessons. Instead of resenting people who criticize us, we bless them for revealing where we need to grow. In this way, even negativity becomes a catalyst for personal evolution.
To sum up, by choosing reflection over rumination, and practicing consistent gratitude, we can gently retrain our brains. We move from fear to strength, from stress to healing. Not only do we change how we experience the world—we also change what we bring into it.