Judaism
Train your mind to remember the good
A new series on why it’s good to count our blessings
March 23, 2025 11:26
A new series on why it’s good to count our blessings
March 23, 2025 11:26Every day, we encounter many different experiences. Some positive and some negative. The brain is programmed to place some of those experiences into our long term memory, and some are forgotten easily.
Due to our natural "negativity bias", negative experiences are more likely to find their place in our memory bank than positive experiences. When discussing this phenomenon with a friend, she commented that this reality is so depressing. However, the good news is that the brain has neuro-plasticity, which means that we can change.
Learning to ride a bike takes time but once one has learnt, it does not take the same effort to continue riding. The first few attempts are hard but, with practice, the brain produces new neural pathways and strengthens those pathways.
The same is true for our thought processes. We need to train our mind to see and remember the good, and then it will more naturally notice those good events in our lives and store them in our long term memory.
The Torah is full of rituals. We wash our hands in the morning, light Shabbat candles and make blessings every day. The rituals are meant to help us improve ourselves, by practising certain actions every day – thereby inculcating those values within us.
Each blessing we make (for example: taking an ordinary item of food and reciting a blessing over it) reminds us how grateful we are that we have access to that item. It also connects us to our Creator, who gave this food to us, as a gift.
We are given the opportunity to train our minds to think differently about life and appreciate its blessings.
The aim of this column is to help us practise noticing the good, by trying to make one blessing a day, and thereby increase our own happiness and also thank Hashem for the good in our lives.
Shuli Liss is rebbetzin of Highgate United Synagogue