Most of us have probably been told at some point to surround ourselves with positive people, or to not spend time with negative people, but why are we told this? If you hang around positive people, will you become a more positive person yourself or is this just a myth? Well, it’s actually true and there is scientific reasoning behind it. It is all do to with a group of neurons in our brains called the “mirror neurons”. These neurons are triggered when we see someone performing and action and when we do the action ourselves, and this is part of how we learn as humans. I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying “Monkey see, Monkey do” and this is where it has come from, because other primates have these mirror neurons too. If we see someone do something bad once, we aren’t likely to perform the same act, but if we see it regularly, we increase the chances of mimicking this act. Being such impressionable animals, it is important to surround yourself with positive people, so we’re going to list some of the things that we pick up.
Emotions and moods
Humans emit emotions visually to show other humans, and this is one of the things that has an impression on us. If you constantly surround yourself with angry people, you will find yourself becoming easily angered. Being around positive people will make you happier, laughter and smiling is contagious, so take advantage of this.
Reactions
Life often throws curveballs at us and they can catch us off guard at the worst of times and surrounding yourself with positive people will help you to deal with these curveballs in the best way possible. Negative people will dwell on the issue instead of addressing it and overcoming it, which is obviously not what you want to do. You want to tackle it head on and move on from it.
Mindset
It seems simple but associating yourself with optimistic and ambitious people will help you to develop a similar mindset. You will find yourself achieving more in life if you have self-belief, and you won’t find yourself improving and growing as a person being surrounded by negativity.
As you can see, there are many reasons supporting the idea of surrounding yourself with positive people. Ask yourself if the people that you associate yourself with are having an impact on yourself, whether it be for good or bad, and whether you are achieving the goals you want in life. We recently covered ways to help you develop an unshakeable belief in yourself in our most recent podcast, so be sure to check it out.