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Manifest Positivity

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UC Berkeley chapter.

There’s this idea that in life when you grow you will find yourself along the way. An individual is a collection of all of the experiences they have had and all of those moments lead them to where they are. Yet, these moments that happen to us are not the only aspects of life that make up who we are. While we complete everyday functions and think and process and interpret our own lives, we each individually make connections between specific neurotransmitters in our brains. The thoughts that you have each affect the mechanisms of your brain chemistry, and they can either help you or hinder you.

    If you are experiencing more negative thoughts, then your brain chemistry is creating more of these negative-emotion causing synapses in your brain. When you think positive thoughts, your brains forms synapses that relate to those positive emotions and feelings. A common saying that is thrown around is that “Happiness is a choice.” While in some cases this is true, it is hard work to retrain your brain to focus on the positive side of life. Yet, if you think more positive thoughts your brain will be more likely to think positive thoughts in the future.

    The road to happiness and positivity is not one that someone can travel overnight, it takes years to train yourself to be mindful, and even the most mindful, and positive people can have moments of doubt or insecurity. Another important aspect of life to remember is that everyone is insecure, and while you may think it’s just you and that you’re just weird and no one may understand, you should know you are not alone. This, of course, should not downplay the experience you are going through or compare it to anyone else; your story is yours and you know what it feels like to be you–no one else has the ability to be who you are.

    Although many of us experience similar daily events, or have experienced a similar past life event, it does not mean that our brains have dissected and handled these events in the same way, or even in a healthy way at all. Why maybe something you have gone through is easy for you, but that doesn’t mean a friend who has gone through the same thing feels it is easy.

    No matter what you or someone else is struggling with, remember not to compare the separate struggles, and instead support them in finding their own positivity. The more you help your friends create positive connections between synapses in the brain, the more positivity you are putting into this world.

 

UC Berkeley class of 2021. My heart is in the mountains, and with any corgi I see. I'm interested in writing, yoga, running, hiking, boxing, playing piano, music, adventures, and studying psychology and anthropology.
Melody A. Chang

UC Berkeley '19

As a senior undergraduate, I seek out all opportunities that expand my horizons, with the aim of developing professionally and deepening my vision of how I can positively impact the world around me. While most of my career aims revolve around healthcare and medicine, I enjoy producing content that is informative, engaging, and motivating.  In the past few years, I have immersed myself in the health field through working at a private surgical clinic, refining my skills as a research assistant in both wet-lab and clinical settings, shadowing surgeons in a hospital abroad, serving different communities with health-oriented nonprofits, and currently, exploring the pharmaceutical industry through an internship in clinical operations.  Career goals aside, I place my whole mind and soul in everything that I pursue whether that be interacting with patients in hospice, consistently improving in fitness PR’s, tutoring children in piano, or engaging my creativity through the arts. Given all the individuals that I have yet to learn from and all the opportunities that I have yet to encounter in this journey, I recognize that I have much room and capacity for growth. Her Campus is a platform that challenges me to consistently engage with my community and to simultaneously cultivate self-expression.