Our Gemara on Amud Aleph tells us that not only does God punish measure for measure, but God also rewards measure for measure. Additionally, the reward is much more than just an equal measure, because the Middah of goodness is greater than the Middah of punishment. 

אֲמַר לֵיהּ רָבָא הָא וְכֵן לְעִנְיַן הַטּוֹבָה קָתָנֵי אֶלָּא אָמַר רָבָא הָכִי קָתָנֵי וְכֵן לְעִנְיַן הַטּוֹבָה דִּבְאוֹתָהּ מִדָּה וּלְעוֹלָם מִדָּה טוֹבָה מְרוּבָּה מִמִּדַּת פּוּרְעָנוּת

Rava said to him: But the tanna taught in the mishna: And the same is so with regard to the reward of good deeds. Rather, Rava said: This is what the mishna is teaching: And the same is so with regard to the reward of good deeds. It is rewarded with the same measure, i.e., a person is rewarded in the same manner as the good deed, but the measure of good is always greater than the measure of punishment. Therefore, Miriam was rewarded in the same manner as, but in a greater measure than, her deed.

Be’er Mayim Chayyim (Bamidbar 23:21) adds the following point. Not only is goodness given in greater proportion than punishment, but in another dimension, it is also more generous. A person is not judged for the sins that are known that he will commit in the future as we learned by Yishmael (See Rashi Bereishis 21:17), however, a person can receive a merit based on their future deeds.  This too has scriptural support, as it states in Shemos (3:11) and the Midrash expands (Shemos Rabbah 3:4), that the Jews really did not merit being freed from Egypt. It was only on account of what they would accomplish at Mount Sinai (and perhaps the midrash’s intention also includes what would be accomplished in the future, as a result of the Torah.)

In any case, though God’s goodness is far stronger that His Middah of retribution, humans tend to feel and trust negativity more than positivity. We saw in Psychology of the Daf Sotah 9, at least the power of hate is stronger than the power of love. I will excerpt a part of an essay I wrote, called  The 13 Cognitive Distortions that interfere with successful marriages, that also discusses the idea of negativity being more powerful than positivity, and its implications:

Distorted Belief # 4: When my spouse insults me during a heated argument, he or she shows their true colors and this must be how my spouse really feels about it me.

What is maladaptive about this belief: When people are angry, indeed they are less inhibited and can say hurtful things.  There must be a degree of truth to what is being said, otherwise it would not be said.  However, when people are angry they also want to hurt the other person, which means that not all of it has to be true.  In addition, positive and loving statements said at other times may be no less true.  There is a basic biological process that is hardwired in our brains to attach more weight, validity and significance to negative statements than to positive statements.  This is because the organism stands more to lose by ignoring a potential threat than by ignoring a potential benefit.  Think about it, if one suspects they are about to be attacked by a murderer, even if it is just a suspicion, there is potentially a high penalty to be paid by ignoring the threat.  If, on the other hand, you suspect that someone is about to give you a million dollars, if you ignore it, there is no damage other than a lost opportunity.  Therefore, our minds are automatically hardwired to give more credence to negativity and this is why bad news travels so much faster than good news.  This is also why we tend to believe insults more than we believe compliments.  The bottom line is that this is the mental equivalent of an optical illusion.  It feels true, but it simply is not so.   

Correct Belief:  In reality, my spouse, like myself, finds parts of me attractive and parts of me repulsive.  We are no different, more or less, than any other couple.  While what was said in the heat of the moment was hurtful and indeed may have some truth to it, it is not the only truth. 

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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