Bad Bunny’s had a whirlwind few weeks. In his Grammy speech, he said “I know it’s tough not to hate these days. The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please… if we fight we have to do it with love.”

History has taught us this before:
“What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred.”
—Gandhi

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

Parts of our world thrive on division and negativity.
It feels suffocating, and yet it pulls us in.

No matter what side you are on, or fight you are in, it can feel impossible to give love to the people across from you… or to step out of the negativity at all.

This is one scenario where our brains let us down.
Negatives impact us more viscerally and stick in our memories longer.
Negatives, like zits, are far easier to spot than their counterparts.

This isn’t speculation. Negativity Bias is a well-documented skill that evolved to keep us alive and help us detect danger.
But it also increases fear, anxiety, inadequacy, and envy.

And like hate, negativity compounds.

Rewiring your brain isn’t easy. It takes time (timeline below).
But it is possible.
And seeing the world with more love and light is a worthy pursuit.

The Light Letter Factory dove into the archives and researched 6 tools to help that pursuit.
Pick the ones that resonate with you, and bookmark the rest for when you need them.
*I’ve been doing number 6 every night and loving it.

Tool 1: The Hammer
Consciously enforce a ratio. Research shows it takes three to five positive interactions to counterbalance one negative interaction.

When you catch yourself dwelling on something negative, deliberately identify three positive or neutral aspects of the situation. Avoid toxic positivity, don’t deny the negative but instead provide an even perspective for the brain's natural distortion.

Tool 2: The Ruler
Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson found that positive experiences need to be held in awareness for 5–20 seconds to transfer into long-term memory with the same strength as negative ones.

When something good happens, a compliment, a beautiful sunset, a moment of connection, don’t just notice it and move on.

Pause.
Let it sink in.
Feel it in your body.
Replay it mentally.

Negative moments get rehearsed automatically.
Positive ones need deliberate attention to teach your brain that good things matter too.

Tool 3: The Glue
When your brain presents a negative thought or worst-case scenario, don't fight it (that often amplifies it).

Instead, acknowledge it and add alternative possibilities:
"Yes, this could go wrong, AND it could also go really well. AND I've handled difficult situations before. AND even if it doesn't work perfectly, I'll learn something valuable. AND if it totally flops I’ll laugh about it with my friends."

This technique, borrowed from improv, trains your brain to automatically generate alternatives rather than stopping at the first negative thought.

Tool 4: The Beer
Positivity, like negativity, is contagious. Deliberately spend time with people who have a balanced or optimistic outlook (not delusional positivity).
Their neural patterns influence yours through mirror neurons.

Tool 5: The Magnifying Glass
Negativity bias leads us to overweight potential risks when making a decision.
When facing decisions colored by fear, ask:
How will I feel about this in 10 minutes?
10 months?
10 years?
This temporal distancing often reveals that the negative outcomes you fear loom large in the moment but small in the long-term, while potential positive outcomes compound over time.

Tool 6: Reflector
Since your brain naturally rehearses negative memories, you need to intentionally rehearse positive ones.

Before bed, spend 5 minutes vividly recalling three specific positive moments from your day with as much sensory detail as possible.
Where were you?
What did you see, hear, smell?
How did your body feel?
This creates competing neural pathways.

Timeline (because who doesn’t need one?)

Weeks 1-2: Research suggests that it will feel mechanical and effortful. You’ll often forget, or not even notice you missed it. Your brain will resist. All of that is normal. You're working against established neural pathways.

Weeks 3-6: You'll start noticing automatic negative thoughts more quickly. The practices begin feeling less forced. You might catch yourself naturally savoring or reframing.

Weeks 8-12: Research shows this is when measurable brain changes appear on fMRI scans. People report feeling genuinely different, not through willpower but through shifted default patterns.

Long-term: Negative events still register, but they don't dominate your mental landscape the way they once did.

The Light Letter believes that intentional people become beacons of light for those around them.
And if hate multiplies hate, and light multiplies light,
you have to ask...

what are you multiplying?

A moment in bliss
does miracles
for the soul. But
to get there
first
you must
surrender.

Until next time,

Live your light.