{"id":86328,"date":"2022-12-07T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T02:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=86328"},"modified":"2022-12-14T15:48:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T19:48:42","slug":"mental-filtering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mental-filtering\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Filtering: How It Keeps You From Being Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How does your brain filter information? How does that mental filtering affect your outlook?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your brain struggles to handle all of the information it takes in. It has to sift out some data. The way it filters impacts your perceptions and ultimately your happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to understand how mental filtering works and discover what you can do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mental-filtering\">Mental Filtering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One weakness that keeps us from being happy stems from the overwhelming amount of information available to our brains. At any given moment, we\u2019re inundated with sensory stimuli like sounds, tastes, scents, and colors. Most of this information is irrelevant to making decisions, so our brains filter it out and only process the relevant information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: A part of the brain called the thalamus<em> <\/em>plays a key role in this mental filtering. As information travels from sensory neurons to the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for high-level processes like learning and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a>, it passes through the thalamus. To facilitate this journey, there are reciprocal connections between the thalamus and the cerebral cortex; whenever the cortex prioritizes incoming information, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/brain-babble\/201502\/is-how-the-brain-filters-out-unimportant-details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">it relays a message to the thalamus<\/a>, blocking it from processing other \u201cirrelevant\u201d information.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, since our brain arose to ensure our survival, Gawdat observes that it focuses on <em>negative information<\/em>\u2014that is, information that constitutes a threat. Consequently, <strong>it filters out positive information<\/strong>. For example, if you\u2019re hiking and you start to become hungry, your brain might overemphasize your hunger while filtering out the beauty of your surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Our brain\u2019s higher sensitivity to negative information also influences our romantic relationships, as we place greater weight on negative than positive experiences in relationships. To compensate, experts suggest that healthy marriages <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/articles\/200306\/our-brains-negative-bias\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">require a five-to-one ratio<\/a> of positive to negative experiences. Any less, and marriages grow more likely to end in divorce.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To repair this weakness, remind yourself that your brain filters out most available information. In turn, you can focus on uncovering positive information that your brain has kept hidden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Experts recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/click-here-happiness\/201803\/think-positive-11-ways-boost-positive-thinking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">myriad strategies to train yourself to emphasize positive information<\/a>, such as memorizing lists of positive words to prime your brain to have positive ideas.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How does your brain filter information? How does that mental filtering affect your outlook? Your brain struggles to handle all of the information it takes in. It has to sift out some data. The way it filters impacts your perceptions and ultimately your happiness. Continue reading to understand how mental filtering works and discover what you can do about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":86332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,160],"tags":[828],"class_list":["post-86328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science","tag-solve-for-happy","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mental Filtering: How It Keeps You From Being Happy - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The way your brain filters data impacts your perceptions and your happiness. 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