Sunrises, Laughter, and the Science of Positivity

Intentional Care Strategies for Better Healthcare Outcomes

Brenton Kirschner, LPC, LMFT, HPCP

My wife and I were at our son’s routine medical checkup. We sat in a comfortable room with a large window overlooking a sunny day. I was reminded of a conversation with Scott Hall, PhD, who once shared that hospital architecture is often designed so every patient can see either a sunrise or a sunset.

That conversation happened in 2021, and yet I found myself smiling about it in late 2025. It lifted my mood to think about the intentionality that is possible in healthcare.

As our doctor walked toward the room, I felt a genuine sense of gratitude. For years, she has cared for our family with evidence-based expertise, yet always in a way that nurtures meaningful relationships and honors our humanity.

It was near the holidays, and I found myself curious about her experience practicing medicine during a season centered on family gatherings. I remembered that she had mentioned immigrating years ago to practice medicine in the United States.

On a whim, I decided to look up how to say hello in her first language and whether doing so would be culturally respectful.

As soon as our son’s physician walked in, I blurted out my fairly respectable attempt at saying hello. She immediately started laughing. The next few minutes were spent with her teaching me more words, and I’m pretty sure I was assigned homework.

It was a good moment. I know we received excellent evidence-based care. I also know we gained a fun memory of our family laughing with the neurosurgeon who saved our child’s life.

Dale Carnegie, in How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, paraphrased Plato by saying that physicians make a mistake when they try to cure the body without also curing the mind.

According to research reported by ScienceDaily (2010), providers should seek to activate a Positive Emotional Attractor (PEA), which sparks positive emotion and activates neuroendocrine systems that improve cognitive functioning and increase perceptual accuracy and openness in the person we are working with. Simply trying to fix a problem for a patient has the opposite effect.

These findings suggest that, without intentional practice, providers and patients may unintentionally trigger each other’s Attachment Behavioral System, leading to both activating and deactivating defense strategies and creating feedback loops that deteriorate the alliance.

“When the attachment system is hyperactivated, individuals become preoccupied with threats and seek excessive reassurance, whereas deactivation leads to emotional suppression and avoidance of closeness—both patterns can undermine openness and accurate perception in relationships.”— Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007

All of this highlights the importance of surrounding those in healthcare with community and peer support to reduce stress and increase positivity.

For more, listen to my podcast episode with Scot Hall PhD:

References:

Dale Carnegie, in How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), paraphrased Plato by saying that physicians make a mistake when they try to cure the body without also curing the mind.

Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change. New York: Guilford Press.

ScienceDaily. (2010, November 18). Coaching with compassion can "light up" human thoughts. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101117184501.htm