CRAZY ABOUT MONEY SERIES
Jesus wandered in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and returned with renewed wisdom and strength. We as a global community are now wandering more than 40 days and 40 nights in a nightmare economy. We hear from family, friends, neighbors and colleagues that everyone knows someone who has been laid off, and plenty more of us scared that we will get a pink slip. We turn on the news and hear about how Bernie Madoff scammed Palm Beach residents who now pawn their treasured possessions to pay the rent. Then we hear about families all over the United States victimized by greedy mortgage brokers who now live in their cars or on the street. Is this the energetic, bold, confident America we hold ourselves to be?
No, this dreadful downturn is a stranger to our optimistic national character. Those of us who are inspired to make lemonade out of lemons will take heart and thrive, while others nurse their wounds from the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” As one Buddhist philosopher wisely said, “Why waste a treacherous crisis?”
How we handle the stress of the downturn determines whether we are in the “thrive or victim” category. Our negative emotions can be a major reason why we waste the crises. There is knowledge from neuroscience that will help us understand our emotional reaction to the losses the downturn has laid at the feet of nearly everyone we know.
Consider this—the orbito-frontal cortex (right behind your forehead) in your brain allows you to imagine what might have been, while the insula, buried deep in your brain, registers the emotions of pain and disgust. When we imagine, our emotions react as if what we imagine is or has actually happened. Let’s say you have lost 40% of your IRA or 401 (k). We know for sure this loss makes us feel sad, mad and bad. If we say to ourselves, “If only I had seen this coming, I would have sold and saved money and pain. What was wrong with my financial advisor he or she didn’t see this coming?” Regretfully imagining better outcomes, like “if we had only known we would have….” Arouses regret, fear and disgust.
Bombarded by bad news, we anticipate negative outcomes again and again, repeating and amplifying to ourselves how we have missed the boat. The mere thought of Wall Street floods us with negative emotion. In fact, we are modifying our brains so that it becomes more and more difficult to do any positive and creative thinking about what to do next. Each time we try to think, we can’t avoid loud internal announcements like, “I’m a fool. My broker is an idiot. The big guys manipulate everyone else. It’s hopeless.” That “negative brain racket” makes positive, creative thinking really hard.
Knowing that negative imaginings are so emotionally powerful helps us lighten up on ourselves and use the economic crisis as it eases as an opportunity to move forward creatively.
As the unemployment numbers stay as high as 9% or higher, we are constantly reminded of our already sustained crisis. Because negative emotions are so intense, real loss and anticipated greater loss may blind us to the small but steady changes over the last months that tell a happier story. The bottom line take home is: be like the stock market and think forward by 6 months. Stop an exclusive focus on the negative and make active efforts to notice the positive. Imagine and practice the positive steps we can take to better our current and future lives. It only makes good neuroscience sense!
