Ep #199: Negativity Bias: Why Bad Days Stick and What to Do with Michael Henri

Negativity bias is why one bad morning sticks: a package, a canceled massage, and a spiral — here's what it taught.

This short solo episode is a real, unfiltered snapshot of a difficult morning — a disappointing delivery, a canceled plan, and the subtle but familiar feeling of a day already going sideways before it even starts. Rather than glossing over it, the episode sits with it honestly: why do small frustrations hit so hard? Why does negativity stick when positivity slips away? Drawing on a lesson from Vipassana meditation — that humans are the creators of their own suffering — the episode explores how our expectations and desires quietly run the show. It's a gentle but honest reminder that not every day needs to feel like your best, that emotions move in waves, and that coming back to love, breath, and the present moment is always available — even on the hard ones. Short, human, and quietly powerful.

Episode Chapters:

00:00:29 Introduction

00:01:09 The Morning It All Went Wrong

00:03:44 We Are the Creators of Our Own Suffering

00:04:36 Expectations, Desires, and Where Pain Comes From

00:05:33 Not Every Day Needs to Be Your Best

00:06:36 How to Keep Moving Forward Anyway

00:07:51 Being Witnessed — And Why It Helps

00:08:15 Coming Back to Breath, Body, and Earth

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Mentions & Resources:

• Michael Henri’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelyoga.pt/ 

• The IN Movement Instagram: https://www.instagram/com/the_in_movement/

Practices referenced:

• Vipassana meditation (10-day silent retreat — completed by Christina a few months prior)

• Breathwork and grounding as a reset tool

Concepts explored:

• Buddhist principle: humans as creators of their own suffering

• The role of desire and expectation in emotional suffering

• The power of being witnessed as a grounding tool

The IN Movement Podcast was formerly the Going Pro Yoga Podcast — and before that, the Yoga Teacher Evolution Podcast and the Rat Race Rebellion Podcast. Same mission, evolved name.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey there, before we get startedon this week's episode, I would
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(00:23):
and then give us some love. Thank.
You so. Much and let's get started with
this week's episode. Hey everyone, welcome to welcome
back to the In Movement podcast.Michael Henry here.
Just going to add a little shortsegment bonus episode if you
will, mostly just cause of something that real that
happened. And I thought I'd share it
because it's very relevant to the theme of this month, which

(00:48):
is very much about stability, root chakra, home groundedness,
centeredness. And how this relates to my day
is, you know, when you wake up in the morning and you're not
really sure how the day is goingto go, and then you just kind of
start moving and you start doingthings.

(01:09):
And then sometimes it takes a turn and then, you know, it kind
of carries on. That energy kind of carries on
with you for the remainder of the day, positive or negative,
maybe even neutral in this situation.
So for me, I woke up this morning feeling pretty neutral
at 1st and then I was kind of excited, You know, when I had

(01:30):
AI, had a package that I knew had arrived and I hadn't opened
it yet. So I kind of got up, did my
little routine, drank my water, had my, you know, my little
supplements and things like that, did my little morning
responsibilities. And then I was like, OK, cool,
I'm going to sit down and open up this package.
And I'm excited about it. I've been looking forward to it
all day or all night, I should suppose, basically since I

(01:51):
ordered it. And when I opened it up and
started to kind of rummage through it and kind of look at
the product that I'd ordered, itwas unfortunately disappointing
and not what I wanted and wasn'tactually working.
And it kind of like just put me into this like spiral of like
feeling down and low. I'm kind of disappointed, upset,
frustrated, kind of like upset with the vendor, you know, And I

(02:16):
went through the whole process of like filing the complaint
and, you know, trying to figure out how to like return it and
get my money back. And it cost a couple $100.00.
So it was, you know, it was a big thing.
And I'm just sitting with my emotion and I'm just kind of
upset, right? I'm frustrated, I'm mad, I'm,
you know, disappointed, all these things.
And I'm kind of like, it sits with you.
Like it's great to call those things out, but I'm actually

(02:37):
like feeling this thing in the moment and I just feel super
unsettled, ungrounded, no longerneutral, no longer even
positive, just kind of like a net negative overall.
And it, it was early in the morning.
It was like 7:00 AM, This is allhappening.
And then I was just thinking about the rest of my day and I
was just feeling a bit low. And I was just like, this kind

(02:57):
of stinks, you know, And then itstarts raining and, you know,
and I was supposed to have a scheduled massage today in the
morning, which I was also looking forward to.
And then that got cancelled because the masseuse had a
family emergency, which is of course acceptable.
But, you know, just the day justkind of kept going with a little
bit of hit after hit after hit. And I know that people can
relate to this because this isn't the first time it's

(03:19):
happened to me. And I know people sometimes just
feel like they're getting, you know, hit with things often.
Now, a lot of my story and things that I'm sharing are
obviously very minor with regards to larger problems that
exist in the world. But the truth is, is we still
all face these little challengesthat are moments of suffering

(03:40):
that we kind of need to deal with.
And, you know, I was having a chat with Christina this
morning, who was also feeling a little bit low.
And she started to think about like, well, what are some of the
lessons she learned from Vipassa, Vipassa Meditation
retreat, 10 days Meditation, which she did a few months ago.

(04:01):
And the lesson that she pulled out of that was that humans are
the creators of their own suffering.
And I was thinking about that inaddition to the story of my
morning. And I thought, you know what?
I would like to talk about it and share with you guys because,
yeah, often times, we are the creators of our own suffering

(04:22):
Because like, you know, I woke up, everything's good.
You know, it's raining. Maybe it's a blessing.
You know, this package thing didn't happen.
My massage got cancelled. But like, all those things are
related to expectations. They're related to desires and
wants, and that's often where a lot of our pain and suffering
comes from is those desires and those wants.

(04:43):
And so if I kind of just like roughly almost like rebooted my
mind to just be like, you know what, Who cares about any of
that stuff? You know, what's the most
important thing in life? And that is, you know,
connection. That is love.
And that's kind of, you know, just enjoying life as much as
you can, whatever's in front of you.

(05:03):
And of course, there's a lot of uncertainty in the world right
now with wars and things happening in the Middle East.
So I think about some of the people that are there and that
are dealing with some of that stuff.
And then I think about my problems and I'm just like, my
God, you know, So minute, so minute in the things that I'm
complaining about that's making me feel low.
So of course, intellectually that helps me to get a little

(05:24):
bit closer to feeling less negative little bit, let's say
above neutral if or maybe just even slightly neutral about the
day. And then it came to me that's
like, you know what, Not every day needs to feel like the best
day 'cause they're, you know, we're humans, we have emotions
that kind of go up and down likewaves or like a roller coaster
in times. And some days just feel better

(05:47):
than others. And whether it's for reasons
related to our own desires and wants, if it's related to
expectations, if it's related tosome people might, you know,
blame the stars and the moon andthe planets for that.
But ultimately, at the end of the day, we still have to move

(06:07):
forward. We still have to proceed through
the day. We still need to enjoy the day
in whatever way we can. So to me, I kind of switched my
brain around and said, well, youknow, the day's going to happen
regardless or not. I started off on the right foot.
But then, you know, took off from the wrong foot after that.
And then it kind of stuck with me, you know, So why did the

(06:28):
negative stick with me? It's like, OK, sure, there's,
you know, probably some emotional patterns and stuff
there that are kind of making itmore challenging.
But how do I get through this? And I just kept telling myself,
well, no matter what, I just gotto keep moving forward.
So I'm going to continue to do the things that I was planning
on doing today. And even though they may not
feel as excited or I might not feel like my baseline is, let's

(06:50):
say, a positive or even more neutral or slightly neutral for
the day, I can still just try toput a smile on my face when I'm
doing things, try to come back to love in my heart, and then
just get through the day. And knowing that every single
day is different. And when I go to sleep at night

(07:11):
and I wake up the next day, it'll be a whole new day, a
whole new experience. But you know, if today was my
only day that I had on this earth and I still had to do all
of the things, all of my responsibilities, how am I going
to live through this day? Am I going to dread it?
Am I going to drag my feet? Am I going to just kind of be
bitter about the world? Or am I going to be able to find
joy in the things and the responsibilities that I still

(07:34):
have to do despite the the foot that I LED with this morning and
and how I kind of created this own spiral of disappointment and
feeling upset, frustration and so on.
So I thought that was a cool little lesson that I'm going to
carry out throughout the day. And even just talking about it
to you guys, I feel like I'm being witnessed.

(07:55):
Even though this recording won'tbe sent out until later.
I already feel like I'm being witnessed and seen by hearing
you guys hearing my voice. So that is already helping me to
get through the remainder of theday.
So thank you for tuning in for this short little episode.
I just thought I'd share that. I thought it'd be helpful for
somebody out there. And otherwise, Yeah, best thing
I'm going to do now is probably take a few breaths, reconnect to

(08:17):
myself, to my body, to the earth.
Even though it's raining outside, Maybe I'll go stand in
the rain. That'll help.
Ultimately, accepting the reality as it is is where I'm at
now. So again, thank you so much for
tuning in for this short episode.
And I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day.
Take care.